News

How to spell "sex4sale" on a Japanese mobile phone

The picture is cute; but that's just what Softpedia used to illustrate the message, which is rather grim. Young prostitutes in Japan are using SMS texts - in code - to tout for business. But the code doesn't convey an image; just a crude business spec.

According to Florin Troaca, the code is made up of an abbreviation of the district the girl lives in, the service she offers, a time, and the price.

"Japanese authorities managed to decipher the girls' code," writes Troaca (quoting an example - IkebLURV1800Yukichi2JC1) "which is pretty well thought. The first part refers to the neighborhood the girls live in – in this case 'Ikeb' stands for Ikebukuro. LUVR translates into 'I'm willing to have sex with you', while 1800 is the time, 18:00 or 6PM." And the Yukichi refers to a philosopher whose face appears on a ten thousand Yen bill, so it gives a price of ¥20K and the remaining letters betray her 13-14 year age.