In the past week I have received 5 text messages on my cell phone offering me quick and easy loans online. These text messages are completely unsolicited and I have never heard of the websites being advertised, let alone been to them. Worse still, every text message could potentially cost me money if they cause me to exceed the alloted number of text messages in my plan.

Spam text messages to cell phones are becoming more common, more annoying and more costly for consumers. At least one company responsible for flooding cell phones with unsolicited text messages is being sued for violating the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The state of Illinois has filed a federal lawsuit against C & C Global Enterprises, L.L.C., www.resortsellers.com and two individuals, the operators of www.webuyresorts.com and www.resortsellers.com. The company has also been sued by Cingular Wireless and the state of Georgia for spamming cell phones with messages offering to buy the recipient’s time share, even though many of them didn’t own time shares.

Cell phone users often view their cell phone as their one refuge from unwanted calls and telemarketers, yet 8 in 10 cell phone users have received an unsolicted text messages. The incidence of cell phone spamming is expected to increase.

Mobile network operators are still in the early stages of testing technological answers to the problem of preventing spam attacks on their customers. If you receive spam text messages, report it to your carrier.