People using the little icons that denote happy, sad or other emotions in their text messages could be racking up big bills, the BBC has learned.

Consumer website MoneySavingExpert has received a large number of complaints about the issue. It seems to affect older models of phones, including some Samsung and Apple handsets. In Scotland, a woman ran up bills totalling over £1,000 after adding emoticons to text messages.

Sad face

The issue revolves around how the handset interprets the icons, known as emoticons or emojis. In some cases, especially on older handsets, the emoticons are converted into MMS (multi-media service) messages, which can cost up to 40p each depending on the network. MoneySavingExpert also found that, in some cases, users creating their own icons from full-stops, commas and brackets found they were converted into emoticons, running up the same charges.....Read more here