Telecom says its internal investigation into an obscene txt message has uncovered that five customers were sent abusive content.Whanganui mayor Michael Laws alleges the original message in the scandal - which was sent to one of his RadioLive listeners and
Telecom says its internal investigation into an obscene txt message has uncovered that five customers were sent abusive content.
Whanganui mayor Michael Laws alleges the original message in the scandal - which was sent to one of his RadioLive listeners and read (without the asterixes) "F*** you customer" - was sent from a Telecom call centre.
Because of the seriousness of the complaint, and the technology involved, the investigation is complex and involves a number of areas, Telecom said in a statement this afternoon.
The messages have been sent using a tool called eTXT; eTXT provides the ability to send a text message to a mobile from a PC. Our fraud and technical teams have been working with the eTXT service provider to track where the messages were sent from, Telecom said.
eTXT is an online tool so could potentially be used to send a text message to a mobile from a PC anywhere around the world and our fraud team are working to identify the internet addresses involved.
Yesterday, Mr Laws told Campbell Live that the "F*** you" SMS was the culmination of back-and-fourth series of emails between Vanessa and Telecom tech support, mostly consisting of routine service messages - satisfying him the txt was genuine.
A Campbell Live producer had also fielded a call from an Invercargill Telecom customer who claimed to have got an abusive txt from the same number.
The tracing investigation shows the eTXT tool may have been used to text five customers with abusive content, Telecom said.
If it is confirmed that the messages were sent by a current Telecom employee either from work or home, it would result in swift disciplinary action appropriate for this serious level of misconduct.
The Telecom staff member who holds the particular mobile number that the text messages appeared to be sent from, is not in anyway involved in sending the abusive messages, Telecom said.
We have contacted the customers who our records show received these eTXTs. We are apologising, assisting them and gathering further information.
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