I bit the bullet and text 'STOP ALL'.  (Hopefully) stopping the premium rate service that I never asked for.  It cost me 10p which is a measly amount but that's not the point - I had to give money to fraudsters in order to not be defrauded out of even more!  These were the instructions of the industry regulator!

Now I've come to the real challenge.  I want my £1.50 (plus that 10p) refunded.  To do this I need to contact the scam artists on a premium rate number.  I'm now willing to do this.  However, it's just dawned on me that I have to give them my address in order to receive a cheque from them.  It's bad enough these thieves have my mobile phone number, I don't want them to have my address too.

Isn't it common sense to not give out your address to criminals?  I've learnt over the past week that some of these reverse-charge shortcode scams are connected to organised crime, money launderers and generally unsavoury figures.  Yet the phone companies and regulators advise us to contact these people in order to get a refund and to do so we have to give them our addresses!

I still want my money back, even if it is just £1.60 - but it's way too risky giving these guys my address for that amount.  I'm going to have to pester 3 (my mobile company) for the money instead.  Meanwhile, I'm gonna dig even deeper into Spread Media's dodgy dealings (another reason why I don't want them to have my address!)

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')

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.