The Bud-dy Movie of the Year!

Andrew Bud (the artist formerly known as The Regulator) has taken his YouTube video down.  That was a bit out of the blue, I wonder why?  I did notice a bunch of people from the company checking out my VOX page where I embedded it.  Probably about the same time they took it down.

Did he say something in it that could become a bit sticky (for want of a better phrase)?  I hadn't picked up on anything and I guess I never will - as it's doubtful any of us will ever get to see it again.  Such a shame.

There are still plenty of other mBlox videos up on YouTube for the time being.  I might well add my own when I venture down to mBlox's EMEA HQ in merry ol' London in the next week or so.  I want to see if I can get me some answers and Sunnyvale (where their wicked awesome World HQ is located in what looks like a motel) is just too damned far away.

Ahh man, at the time of writing there's only three mBlox videos still up!  Catch 'em while you can - once they're gone, they're gone...

My favourite video has to be Customers Speak.  Watch out for the 'sensational' ending!

Ha, ha, we've got your money!

That's not a typo, I meant SPANNER, 'cause that's what they are... tools!  Oh, enough of my never ending wit already...

Regulate this!

I would love to hear from those of you that have had a run in with PhonepayPlus/ICSTIS maybe even OFCOM or OFTEL, PayPal or PalPlus.  Whatever they like to be called on a Tuesday!  Crikey, it's Tuesday already!

Of equal interest to me and presumably the majority of the people reading my Fraudwatch posts (remember don't have nightmares, goodnight and good luck) are the perpertrators and enablers, the likes of mBlox and the Tanla's and Spread Media's of this world.  Anyone got any stories about these less than savoury folk (oh I hate biting my tongue!)

The world (okay the UK) needs to hear your story, so please get in touch.  I know you're reading as lots of people were checking out my latest Fraudwatch posts, from across the country - and they can't all be Andrew Bud (scroll to comments for a treat) or David Shepard.

BTW for those new to my blog, Andrew Bud's company is in cahoots with the scammers and he is also The Regulator - I'll be back... to steal your money!

The Bud-dy Movie of the Year!

If you don't know the quote from my 'title' above, then I'm probably going to sound a tad on the postal side of things.  For those of you that that describes, let me put you at ease and say GO WATCH THAT MOVIE!

So, Ant, we get the title and we want to know what's grinding your gears.  Please tell us!

You want to know what really grinds my gears? And, in no particular order, here's what:

I've got screen grabs but can't be arsed to upload 'em right now.  But I will paste the transcript of my complaint and the number (it's 84566 just incase you didn't see it in the title).

Details of your complaint

Your name: Ant

The number you are complaining about: 84566

The phone number you accessed the service from (if any): 07XXXXXXXX (they gave me no choice but to enter a number here even though I didn't "access the service" - I put in my real number the Xs are so I don't get harvested here)

Did you give us permission to pass on your details to the service provider? No

Where the promotion was seen or heard: Other It wasn't sent as a 'promotion' it was yet another scam premium-rate SMS sent fraudulently pretending to be a close friend.

What the promotion said and what service was being offered: Again, it wasn't sent as if it were a promotion, it did not say it was offering anything. They purported to be someone I knew, in the hope that I'd spend £1.50 replying to them (they've just stolen £1.50 from my account)

Were you fully informed of the cost to use the service? no

Was there a non-premium rate customer helpline number made available? no

What the complaint is about: Hmm, it should be clear by now. This is yet another scam that mblox is caught up in. You know, mblox - of course you do, you've fined them enough and there's mblox folk involved with phonepayplus.

PhonepayPlus will look at the information you have supplied and assess whether there has been a breach of our Code of Practice - this will trigger a formal investigation.

PhonepayPlus aims to resolve all complaints where we have the evidence to do so. Our investigation process is very detailed and can take up to 12 weeks to complete. We may need to contact you for further information and we will also question the company running the service. A report is then presented to the PhonepayPlus Board who will reach a decision on the case.

If we decide a breach of our Code of Practice has taken place, the company running the service must immediately make necessary changes to the service and/or its promotional material.

In addition, the PhonepayPlus may decide to take the following action:

* stop the companies from running certain types of services
* impose a fine - up to a maximum of £250 000
* order reasonable and valid refunds to be paid to the complaints

Dammit! Just noticed they didn't include the transcript of the SMS itself... here we go... 

"Id love to see u babe x when  is best for u?, im free all next week, tb"

Transcribed as best I can, mistakes by them and all.  Note the lack of an opt-out blurb, anything regarding costs or mention of the company, a support number or Ts&Cs.  I guess they figured if they'd provided those legally required things it would spoil the 'sent from someone you know' feel to the scam.  And anyway, why worry about the law when it's not going to be enforced or anything like that?  

Okay, here are the deets:

• I'm ok, I'm fine I wasn't hurt in the incident
• They only stole a small amount (price of bus ticket)
• They tried to trick me into believing they were someone else
• I knew they were lying immediately, even so they're going to keep taking money from me unless I give them more money first (then they'll leave me alone).

Sounds like a crime, no?  Sounds like I should report it to the police, does it not?  Despite a spate of these, and despite that it's theft, pure and simple (oh and add a bit of a protection racket-type element in to the mix) I've been told the police won't be interested.  The police have never prosecuted a single person over this despite that there are 100,000s (if not millions) of other people in the UK who've been a victim too.

I'm sure some regular readers have figured out where this is going.  For those that haven't, it's bad old unsolicited reverse charge premium rate fraud time again!  Yet again it involves mBlox.  I'm not a happy bunny.  Like last time I don't give a crap about the £1.50 they've stolen off me (not that I'm rolling in money but poorer people have lost far more than this).  It's more to do with the fact that it's done so blatantly and they keep getting away with it.  For what it's worth I use the 'they' to mean not only mBlox (although they would appear to be the main culprits) but all of these companies.

Some nuggets as to why I'm really incensed over this:

• How dare any company send me anything purporting to be from someone I know.  That's fraud, that's deception, that's just not groovy
• How dare they steal from me
• The industry regulator expects me to spend money in order to make the fraud stop (protection-alike racket, no?)
• How dare the regulator ask me to give money to the fraudsters in order to phone the fraudsters (why can't I charge the fraudsters to receive my messages?) ;-)
• The ones involved in the fraud are also the regulators of the industry.  Conflict of interest, anyone?  Corruption at worst.
• The police won't get involved in these cases.  Er, hello?  This is fraud, theft, possibly conspiracy to commit something or other?  No?
• This has been going on for years
• The networks/carriers/operators in the UK don't give a crap.  Most won't help out or try to block these services (even when asked).  Why not?  Because legally they don't have to and, if I were to be cynical, perhaps it's because they get a cut of the action?
• It's a nice day outside and I typing this, because I'm so freaking pissed off with this.

Fudge this, it's too nice a day... (we don't get too many of them 'round here) But before I leave you check out what I've left on mBlox's YouTube page (considering their reputation and the sheer amount of hatred they've inspired across the interwebs, they didn't choose to approve replies to their vids on YouTube channel!  Bet they will soon!)

Here's some screen grabs I took of the YouTube page - for prosperity...

Oh dear - can you spot the join... I haven't got time to do a re-grab

Oh God, I don't think I'll ever get out today at this rate - there's just so much great stuff to be found about this stuff.  I've got links, threads, reports, stories, whines, press releases, all sorts.  Thanks to those that have provided me so far and if anyone else wants to send me more, feel free.  You can send a message to me completely free of charge!


And the following is a snippet from what I've just been reading.  Damn it's good...

"People are angry, because the rules for how things must be advertised are very unclear. We’ve been pushing to get them tightened up, to avoid exactly this kind of confusion."

Er, you're not just in charge of the company involved, you're um, the regulator!  Can you not tightening things up yourself?  Oh no, you can't, that'd mean less revenue for your company and that job pays more than the phonepayplus gig.

That's Bud-e's commentating here: Just the facts ma'am  He also dropped by at the Mirror, a bit more recently:

Mblox fined again over premium rate phonelines