First it was the annoying telemarketing calls and lately, its text messages to. These days whenever we turn on our phone, we are bombarded with annoying robocalls, ringless voicemails and unsolicited text messages. Is this legal? No!
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), text message spam to your cell phone what email spam is to your personal computer. Both are annoying and often try to get you to reveal personal information.
In fact, text message spam is a triple threat: It often uses the promise of free gifts or product offers to get you to reveal personal information; it can lead to unwanted charges on your cell phone bill; and it can slow cell phone performance.
Unsolicited text messages are illegal. Unless you have previously granted consent, it is illegal to send unsolicited commercial email messages to cell phones and pagers. It’s also illegal to send unsolicited text messages from an auto-dialer — equipment that stores and dials phone numbers
There are some exceptions to the law, for example, companies that have an existing relationship with you can send non marketing messages even without consent. Typically, this is monthly billing statement or warranty information. Fundraising companies can send texts too as well as political surveys. (And yes, the presidential election season is just around the corner.)
getcreativewriter.com Investigation
We are investigating text messages linked to a website called getcreativewebsite.com. Sources tell us the company uses autodialers and sends the following message:
“Have you ever put in a thought of becoming a published author? Check out portfolio at https://rebrand.ly/publish-ebook - Reply STOP tom opt-out.”
Clicking on the link takes you to the getcreativewriter.com website.
Despite having an “opt out” option in the body of the text, the unsolicited text itself is still illegal.
We are looking for someone that has received one of these getcreativewriter.com texts. Optimally, we are seeking someone who received the text, opted out, yet continued to receive texts. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), unless you consented to receive such text, each text is subject to a penalty of $500 to $1,500. The penalty is awarded to the recipient of the unwanted text message.
Interested in learning more? Contact us online, by email [hidden email] or by phone at 800.669.7782. We also invite you to visit our Spam Robocalling information page. The rules for unwanted texts are similar to those for unwanted calls.
Get Creative Writer’s website certainly looks legit. There is no copyright information nor a corporate name on their website, however. That raises red flags. And the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has their URL registered to “namecheap.com”, another fact that concerns us. Their phone number, 415-842-2932, has a San Francisco area code.
Is getcreativewriter.com legit? We don’t know. But we do know that unsolicited text messages are not legal, and we are eagerly looking for people who may have received one of their texts or who have experiences with the company. This includes company “insiders.”
All inquiries are considered confidential and protected by the attorney – client privilege. At this point we are only investigating although we do intend on pursuing a TCPA phone / text harassment case if they are sending unsolicited text messages.
If you have information or received an unsolicited text from getcreativewriter.com, contact us at the numbers and email above.