Security | Vodafone Ireland

What are malicious communications?

Unwanted calls or texts can be a cause of stress and anxiety. Anyone can be the victim of harassing, annoying, obscene, abusive or threatening calls or messages. These may include abusive calls, random calls by pranksters, calls at night, frequent pointless calls or those where the caller says nothing, calls from former romantic interests, or calls where some threat is made against you, those with whom you live, or your property.

Under Irish legislation, the sending or making of a threatening, obscene, abusive, offensive, indecent or menacing call is illegal under Section 13 of the Post Office (Amendment) Act 1951 and Section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the person Act 1997.

What can Vodafone do?

Vodafone operates a policy of zero tolerance of bullying and the sending of offensive or abusive text, picture messages or calls. In cases of persistent malicious communications that are causing needless anxiety to you, Vodafone can offer you a change of number free of charge. To do so please contact our helpdesk to request a number change for your account.

Useful advice

The following are some useful tips:

• Do not reply to text or picture messages that you did not want to receive.
• Be careful of who you give your mobile phone number to.
• If you receive abusive messages or calls you should keep a note of the times and dates, save the message to your mobile phone.
• Try not to send messages to someone when you are angry or upset but rather wait till you have calmed down and had time to think.
• If you receive any more abusive or malicious calls or texts, log the number, call time, the date and any other information about the call. You may need this information if needed later for investigation.
• It is important not to engage in conversation or reply to the caller or sender, as this may only encourage more malicious communications.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Mobile phones are valuable items, which unfortunately are sometimes the targets for thieves.

It is important to report your phone as stolen or lost to Vodafone as soon as possible.

How to report your phone stolen or lost

If your phone is stolen or lost, please report it to the Vodafone helpdesk on:

Bill pay - 1907
Pay as you go - 1747 (from a mobile)

Once reported, Vodafone will be able to place a bar on your account to prevent calls being made from your account until you are reissued with a new SIM card.

By quoting your handset IMEI number to us, Vodafone will be able to place a handset EIR bar (Equipment Identity Register bar) on your account. This EIR bar will register your handset on a central barring database called the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), and your handset will not work on any mobile network in Ireland.

When you buy a new mobile phone, make sure to make a note of the IMEI number (to display your IMEI number on your phone, dial *#06# ) and register it with us, so that Vodafone can quickly deactivate the handset on request.

What is “spam”?

Spam is any unsolicited and generally unwelcome commercial communication used for direct marketing purposes where the sender is not entitled to send the message to you for example where the person who receives the message has no relationship with the sender of the message. In the case of mobile customers, Spam takes the form of unwanted text messages, picture messages and emails.

Most companies or individuals that send Spam are trying to sell something or promote a new product or service. For example, some will announce that you have been lucky enough to win a prize in a competition and that all you need to do is ring a certain number to learn what it is and how to collect it. Sometimes the number in question will be a premium rate number and you will either find that at the end of a long message nothing happens, or that the value of the prize is considerably less than the cost of the call.

Our position on spam

Vodafone stringently guards its customers' personal details and does not share these details with third parties for their marketing purposes. Third parties can obtain your details in a number of ways. For instance, you details may be obtained through using other services they offer or on entry into a quiz or promotion. When your details are obtained it is a legal requirement that you are given the opportunity to opt out of receiving communications. Any subsequent communications should include contact information and details on how to opt out.

The Vodafone spam reporting line

Vodafone hosts a dedicated Spam reporting line where customers can forward suspected Spam texts free of charge. After investigation, we will report cases of suspected Spam to the appropriate authorities such as the Data Protection Commissioner for further investigation.
To report suspected cases of Spam texts please forward the message to 50005.

In addition you can contact the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner to report suspected cases of Spam directly.