Could this be the man behind the infamous "Katie" premium rate scam?  Anyone know more about him or the companies connected with him?  As well as Spread Media, there's Equinox Agency Ltd,  Vaudaville.com and Photoidol

Here's a picture of a guy who I believe must be the David Shepard - courtesy of facebook.

David Shepard's Facebook mugshot

Here's a link to PhonepayPlus's previous Spread Media adjudication and a brief summary is below:

Spread Media Ltd - PhonepayPlus adjudication

Just off the phone to PhonepayPlus (the regulator in charge of premium rate services).  I was advised to send the 'STOP' message to Spread Media - at cost to me.  I was also advised to call Spread Media's premium rate phone number in order to get a refund!

So, lets get this straight:

• Some random company uses deception in an attempt to trick me out of money (which I ignore)
  
• A month later they attempt the same deception - this time charging me £1.50
• The UK regulator tells me that I have to give the thieving bastards more money in order to get my money back and prevent the scum from taking more.

Great regulating guys!  Show those scam artists who's boss.  That £500 fine and formal reprimand you gave them last time sure did the trick.  No wait, it didn't - you just told me on the phone that there's already a bunch of complaints about Spread Media's latest deception!  I guess the paltry fine and slap on the wrist didn't work after all?

Readers, what d'ya reckon?  Should I text 'STOP' to 68888 or not?  PhonepayPlus seemed to think it'd only cost the same as a normal text message, would put an end to future messages from Spread Media and would be more or less essential (if I get more messages and get charged it will be apparently my fault for not sending the 'STOP')

Check out the following forum threads, especially if you've had money stolen from you by Spread Media...

Who Calls Me?

Grumbletext

Digital Spy

Just a few more things to add...

The Independent on Spread

Hope The Independent don't mind me copying and pasting that, fair use and all!  Here's the link > The City Diary

And to add to that I've just found out that a company called "Equinox Agency Ltd" is behind Spread Media and I'm uncovering more and more.

I previously wrote about an unsolicited and fraudulent SMS message I got back in February:

Katie said I was a lot of fun. At least that's what Tracey's been told.

Well it wasn't the only one I got - I soon received another, similar message which I promptly deleted.  I thought nothing of it until I checked my latest phone bill.  I was charged £1.50 ($3) for the message which I hadn't asked for.  I had never contacted the company and wasn't even foolish enough to send the STOP text that they requested I send if I wanted to opt-out (after all, why would I trust them to stop something I didn't ask for and pay for the privilege of sending it?)

Spread Media stealing £1.50 from me. Have they helped themselves to your money too?

Of course, some will say that it's only £1.50 - but there's a principle here.  They sent messages to me completely unsolicited.  I never contacted them.  They either have my number on a database or used a random number generator.  Either way it doesn't matter to me, all that matters is they could take even more from me in future.  I've contacted my mobile operator (3 UK) and asked for a block on 68888.  Hopefully that will do the trick but I have my doubts.

Thing is, I've only been looking closely at my last couple of bills because I've been out of the country twice.  Had I not, this could've easily slipped past me.  What about those that haven't checked their mobile phone bills closely?  I'm concerned for the many thousands - possible tens, if not hundreds - of people they may have also stolen money from.

That's on contract - there's plenty of people on prepay that will just see their credit dwindling and will probably have no idea why.  Those on pay-as-you-go have no record of which texts cost what, so this particular fraud is more likely to pass them unnoticed.  A lot of PAYG users simply can't afford to be defrauded as they're children and teenagers.  £1.50 off their credit could mean all the difference when they desperately need to contact their parents.

From the logs on StatCounter it would appear that the US Department of Justice dropped by for a visit.  They're not the only ones from the DC area either.  Any other bloggers out there with similar visitors?

The DoJ dropping by

Looks like ASUS have been putting some of the money they've been making with their uber-successful Eee PC into their UK web presence.

Check out: EASY TO LEARN . EASY TO WORK . EASY TO PLAY . EASY TO WIN

Yes, that's right, easy-to-win!  But no more details other than a countdown timer.  The page title also includes "Easy to share" - they clearly haven't tried sending files from one Eee PC to another!  Click on the "about" and you're see that they're also bragging about it being easy to carry.

Hopefully I can win one as I'm jonesing for a laptop since my Eee left me...

As promised here's some links to reviews for those of you too lazy to find them yourself!

60 second video review from The Miami Herald's Bridget Carey > HERE (there's also a link to the story she wrote for the paper itself but, unfortunately, the link doesn't work)

Another video review, this time from Fox News

A less than enthusiastic write up at Computer Power User > HERE

No review but plenty of pictures including... is that?  No it can't be... Ben Affleck wearing one! > Firebox

...oh I give up!  There's a lot of talk about these but at the moment actual reviews are few and far between.  However, I did find an interesting blog or two along the way, including Freshpilot (no relation to this blog).

The price on those Vuzix iWear video glasses from UK mobile operator 3 has come down to £199.95 - that's a £25 saving!  Well, to be honest I think that's the price they were meant to be sold at and that 3's accessory site had it wrong for some reason.

Coming down, the price is less!

Even at £199.95, is there anyone out there that's actually going to buy a pair?  Regardless of cost, I imagine that like the Slingbox before it, these Vuzix will go largely unnoticed due in part to lack of promotion.  There's not even that much info on them in the mobile blogosphere, many of the usual suspects have made no mention of them.

Even 3mobilebuzz made no mention of them until they saw my previous blog post!  Did the guys there even know about them I wonder?

Oh, and try finding the glasses on the 3's accessory site without using search (ie like if you were just browsing the site and had no idea these existed).  Good luck finding them!  To be fair the site appears to be run by a 3rd party on behalf of 3 and it's a new product line, maybe that will change sometime soon.

What price would be the right price for you?  If these really are as good as the (few) reviews I've seen say they are I'd be tempted to drop £100 ($200) on the table, maybe a bit more.  It's not like they're not worth more money, it's a question of just how useful will they be and what I feel I can justify spending.  Having said that the glasses I recently lost cost a little under £180 and don't do anything fancy other than unblurring my vision!

Maybe 3 should consider bundling a pair with some contracts or offering a discount on them in relation to what price plan you're on.  These coupled with Slingplayer on 3 would be amazing, a sign that we really are in the 21st Century even if we have a serious lack of flying cars.