Spam scams on phones

Watch out, it may be coming across the Pacific. I'm referring to a tech plague: Apparently, junk SMS messages, including fraudulent ones like the nine scams that, reportedly, have bilked victims out of 1 million yuan (about $124,000) in less than 20 days, may be coming to a cellphone near you. "China has declared war on scams using mobile phone short messages that promise everything from fake cash prizes to sexual services to contract killings," Reuters reports, adding that "China's mobile phone market have fallen behind its explosive growth, which has generated huge profits for short message service providers." China had 330 million mobile-phone users by the end of last year, having sent "a total of 217.7 billion messages" in 2004, according to Reuters.