“Debt Settlement Order” Text Spams – How do they work?
"There are likely to be two approaches: An autodialer of any description would be more than capable of sending an SMS or initiating a direct telephone call with any set of telephone numbers.  Such autodialiers can run off a personal computer via VoIP or some such third-party.  As to getting the numbers, it can be either from a purchased list (if they're serious about this and are obeying any call opt-out lists) or simply a number range dialed sequentially, whether they work or not. In a more serious operation, any returns are fed directly to a call centre where real human beings then initiate direct contact.  Otherwise it is simply a fishing expedition and any valid numbers can then be sold to other agencies as a screened list (and, therefore, more valuable). From an SMS perspective, anyone can purchase a vendor-level SMS Gateway subscription (of which there are loads of vendors - and note the number that allow ""web-to-SMS"") which permits you to receive and respond to any SMS received. This is always about the ""law of large numbers"".  If they can get in the hundreds of thousands of valid numbers and a small number respond then they can make money.  Like any spam, because a few are gullible, the rest of us are targets too. Update: A few searches for ""software auto sms"" and similar results in a fair number of prospects.  As I don't wish this to become too much of a ""how-to"" I'm not going to link."
"I'm going to give a simpler answer than some of the others, although somewhat more limited: the complicated loan parameters you describe benefit the lender.  I'll focus on this part of your question: You should be able to pay back whenever; what's the point of an arbitrary timeline? Here ""you"" refers to the borrower.  Sure, yes, it would be great for the borrower to be able to do whatever they want whenever they want, increasing or decreasing the loan balance by paying or not paying arbitrary amounts at their whim.  But it doesn't benefit the lender to let the borrower do this.  Adding various kinds of restrictions and extra conditions to the loan reduces the lender's uncertainty about when they'll be receiving money, and also gives them a greater range of legal recourse to get it sooner (since they can pursue the borrower right away if they violate any of the conditions, rather than having the wait until they die without having paid their debt). Then you say: And if you want, you can set a legal deadline. But the mere deadline in the contract doesn't affect how much interest is paid—the interest is only affected by how much money is borrowed and how long has passed. I think in many cases that is in fact how it works, or at least it is more how it works than you seem to think.  For instance, you can take out a 30-year loan but pay it off in less than 30 years, and the amount you pay will be less if you pay it off sooner.  However, in some cases the lender will charge you a penalty for doing so.  The reason is the same as above: if you pay off the loan sooner, you are paying less interest, which is worse for the lender.  Again, it would be nice for the borrower if they could just pay it off sooner with no penalty, but the lender has no reason to let them do so. I think there are in fact other explanations for these more complicated loan terms that do benefit the borrower.  For instance, an amortization schedule with clearly defined monthly payments and proportions going to interest and principal also reduces the borrower's uncertainty, and makes them less likely to do risky things like skip lots of payments intending to make it up later.  It gives them a clear number to budget from.  But even aside from all that, I think the clearest answer to your question is what I said above: in general, it benefits the lender to attach conditions and parameters to loans in order to have many opportunities to penalize the borrower for making it hard for the lender to predict their cash flow." I'm a programmer, and worked for a company doing natural language analysis and parsing.  Yes, it is possible to figure out what reviews are more valuable than others by passsing it through an algorithm.  How the heck do you think spam filters work? The thing you need to keep in mind is that if you take on debt, you need to have a plan to pay it off and execute on it.  You also need to understand what your carrying cost is (what you will pay in finance charges every month.)  There are times when you need to take on debt in order to be a productive person.  For example, in many places in the US, you need a car in order to have a job.  It's ludicrous for someone to assert that you shouldn't take on any debt in order to get a reliable vehicle.  That doesn't mean you go out and lease the fanciest car that you can get on your income. In this case, I'd say it's a bit of a grey area.  Could you live in an unfurnished apartment for a while?  Perhaps.  Many people would have a hard time living like that and it could affect your ability to perform at work.  I would argue that buying a decent mattress to sleep on falls under the same category as getting a car so that you can work.  You don't want to be missing work because your back is in spasm from sleeping on the floor or a worn out mattress. As far as the rest of it goes, it really depends on how fast you can pay it off.  If you are looking at more than a few months (6 tops) to pay off the purchase in full, you should reassess.  Realize that the interest you are paying is increasing the cost of the furniture and act accordingly.  As mentioned, you can often get 0% financing for a limited period.  Understand that if you don't pay off the entire balance in that period, you will normally be retroactively charged interest on the entire starting amount and that interest rate will likely be quite high. The problem with credit is when you start using it and continually growing the balance.  It's easy to keep saying that you will start paying it off later and the next thing you know you are buried.  It's not a big one-time purchase (by itself) that normally gets people into trouble, it's continual spending beyond their means month after month. text blast is the now marketing. I think any company should try it right away. It is cheap and effective. texting service is something for your company to look into. I have been working in this text advertising for several year, so I do know the insight. Please contact me if you have any question. This probably would not stand up in court, but seeing as businesses do not have the same collection protection rights as consumers, it could be a very costly mess to disentangle yourself from.  Operations like this are like whack-a-mole, they're ridiculously easy for someone to set up and very hard to take down. The sting here is definitely in the tail, the PS that says We are starting to call you from the same day when we get your details. The initial email doesn't ask for details, it asks for commitment. Once committed, you will be more relaxed about providing details. This makes me think that this is more serious than a simple financial scam. This is an effort to steal your identity, and that could be much more serious than the one-off loss of a few thousand dollars. Here's why: 1. The scammer could get numerous credit cards and store cards in your name, run up thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in charges, and leave you stuck with explaining what happened. I know someone who went from being a multi-millionaire to a pauper in a few months when his identity was stolen - and he is no fool. 2. It will take you years to clear your name. Meanwhile, your credit is shot, and you might have trouble getting a job, renting an apartment, or simply getting a cellphone contract. 3. Once you've repaired your credit, the scammer can just go through his old files and do it all over again. 4. Cloaked in your identity, and therefore being seen as you, the scammer can pull any number of scams, for which you will eventually be blamed. Then as well as dealing with credit bureaus, you will be dealing with another, more serious bureau: the FBI. This sounds like a shady trick. I would consult with a consumer debt lawyer in your area. Most county bar associations in the US have a referral service, where they recommend a local lawyer and there is a reduced fee for the initial visit. I think the statute of limitations is 10 years in most cases, but it depends on where you live. From these bare details,I think they don;t have much of a case. Go see a lawyer and don't let them harrass you. Well, these can range from loan broker to outright scams. It is pretty typical that loan broker just take some fee in the middle for their service of filling your applications for a bunch of real loan provider companies. Because making a web page costs nothing, a single loan broker could easily have many web pages with a bit different marketing so that they can get as many customers as possible. But of course some of the web pages can be actual scams. As soon as you provide enough information for taking out a loan, they can go to a real financial institution, take out the loan and run with the money. In most countries consumer protection laws do not apply to business-to-business transactions, so you have to be even more wary of scams than usual.