29 posts tagged “spread media”

Back in August I got stung for the second time by Spread Media/Spread Mobile and their pals mBlox.  I had never chosen to do business with either company.  However, that didn't matter - they had my mobile number from somewhere and were able to repeatedly take money from my account.

Spread and mBlox got done early in 2008 for doing this to a bunch of folk, they sat out their short bar from providing such "services" and then did it again later in the year.  Un-frigging-believable eh?

No doubt the guy behind Spread will launch another company and team up with mBlox again.  I can almost guarentee it.  There's nothing to stop 'em.  The law and the regulators would appear to be on their side.  mBlox's PR just don't get it either, they joked about me kicking up such a fuss.  Well, wouldn't you if you had money stolen from you?  Okay a few quid here and there isn't the same as having your house ransacked but the principles the same.

Oh well.  Not much can be done.  None of the UK mobile operators are interested in stamping this fraud and abuse of their customers out.  My operator, H3G (aka 3UK or 3 Mobile) made it clear that I was on my own and 'good luck getting your money back' (not a direct quote, but not far off).  The police, politicians, consumer organisations and industry regulators - not one of them in the least bit interested in stopping this abuse and bringing the culprits to justice.

PhonepayPlus Tribunal

I am the Investigations Executive charged with the running of this investigation. As Paul Whiteing has indicated in his email below, during the current investigation PhonepayPlus has never at any stage dealt with Spread Media Limited. A thorough investigation into the activities of all parties to the value chain – mBlox Limited and Spread Mobile Services Limited – has been undertaken.

 

If you have been informed that your complaint is with ‘Spread Media’ then that is indeed incorrect.

 

When investigations arise in any circumstances the Executive is careful to review the complaint’s history, timeline, along with facts relating to service operation and the parties operating it. Where it is appropriate the Executive makes full use of its powers under paragraph 8.9.3 of the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice 11^th Edition (amended April 2008) in relation to potential failures to comply with previous sanctions imposed. This case was processed in the usual manner following the Standard Procedure, and at no time did the Executive consider the evidence justified using these powers.

 

The case will come before the Code Compliance Panel sitting in Tribunal on 2^nd April 2009. As a complainant you will be kept fully informed of the adjudication decision, which will be published on the website in the usual way.

 

David Levitt

Investigations Executive

I asked Paul (the new CEO at PhonepayPlus) about what conclusions the regulator had come to regarding Spread Media's dodgy unsolicited texts in August 2008.  Below is his response...

This investigation has been ongoing since September 2008, and whilst this has been delayed for various reasons, the consumer harm was minimized by the suspension of the service by mBlox Limited prior to 9^th September 2008.

 

The investigation identified a number of potential breaches of the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice 11^th Edition (amended April 2008), and these were raised as against the service provider within a formal breach letter on 27^th January 2009. One aspect of the investigation leading to the delay was the need to appreciate precisely which company operated the service at the time of issuance of MT messages in August 2008. In light of your entry for “Subject” of this email, it is worth noting that PhonepayPlus has never at any stage dealt with Spread Media Limited in relation to this investigation. The Tribunal will consider which companies form the value chain as part of its decision.

 

mBlox have co-operated fully with this investigation. This case will be presented at the next available hearing, which is 2^nd April 2009. This is due to other cases being heard at the next Tribunal, which is sitting on 19^th March 2009.

What does one make of that?  Hmm, still digesting it.  Spread Media isn't part of the investigation, yet mBlox puts the blame on them, claiming that they themsleves are just another innocent party in all of this.  PhonepayPlus are putting all the blame on mBlox yet Paul makes it known that mBlox have co-operated fully.

Oh and what are 'MT messages' anyway?

Poor old Florian Demuth, Customer Services Advisor at PhonepayPlus.  I gave the poor fellow quite a hard time last year regarding the times I was scammed by unsolicited reverse-rate SMS cowboys.  Firstly I recorded every conversation and, to comply with the law, told him as such.  Secondly I ranted and er, ranted, about the whole sordid industry his organisation supposedly 'regulated'.

He did quite well sticking to the script but you could tell he was holding back from saying some things.  There was always a slight hint that, deep down, he loathed the industry and was clearly not in the right job (which, amongst other things includes defending the indefensible).

Anyway, with all this talk about PhonepayPlus at the moment, I came across an interview in the regulator's own newsletter where the chappie (which, I must admit, until now I thought was a lady!) admitted the following:

The vast majority of complaints are related to reverse-charged text messages consumers state to be unsolicited.

That's right folks, the vast majority of complaints are because people have been charged for something they never asked for!  No amount of 'educating the customer' will help in this matter.  In many (I'd wager, most) of these cases the company responsible will have deliberately chosen to steal money from mobile subscriber's accounts in what would, in any other industry, be classed as theft or fraud.

I spent many months, sent many emails, made many calls, posted dozens upon dozens of stories related to the theft from my account and only after all of that, the company responsible, mBlox*, finally gave me a cheque for £10.  I wonder how much they've pocketted through fellow victims not knowing or giving up trying to get the money stolen recovered?

Of course, in the premium rate industry, those that work for the regulator also work for the companies responsible!  It's that cosy, and the rewards are great.

*mBlox helped Spread Media carry out this fraud.  mBlox may claim that it had nothing to do with them, they were just the conduit (or some such thing) but this was far from the first time the two companies worked together and ended up doing the same thing.

MPS Mobile Privacy Service - Shortcode 80824

2 comments

The guy behind this is known as being a bit shifty*.  He's sent out a bucket load of unsolicited crap and charged folk on the receiving end for the privilege (including moi).  He's been ticked off by the regulator before but keeps coming back, 'cos the regulator doesn't give a damn.

The joker has the cheek to run a site that claims to put a stop to what his other companies do.  Crazy that, isn't it?  Well let's see what PhonepayPlus have to say about it (yeah, I like wasting time!)

*Did I forget to say he sent me a 'goodwill' check that bounced?

Yesterday I received a letter from my bank and enclosed with it a returned cheque.  The cheque that Spread Media gave me bounced (as I suspected).  David Shepard's Spread Media and Spread Mobile have already shut up shop and it looks like it's just a matter of time before his other worthy enterprises do the same.

Despite him still having my money, he's not a very good scamster!  I mean all that effort, for what?  Although it must be great scamming people when you don't need to trick them, just send premium rate messages to a bunch of random numbers and hey presto.  The likes of mBlox make it possible.

Anyway, Hotwire PR and mBlox, you wanna help me get my money back and give me some answers while you're at it?  Cheers guys.  As for PhonepayPlus... don't get me started!

Looking at my online banking service today I noticed that things weren't all well in my savings account.  Things are never well in my savings account!  But in this case I'm referring to my refund cheque from Spread Media and how it's just been returned.  So my paltry £10 refund/goodwill gesture has bid me farewell.

No surprise there then.  They're a shifty bunch (shifty is a typo, but I'll leave it in as it's equally as appropriate).

Yes, things really are that dire in my savings account!

I wonder how many hours and how much money I'll need to waste chasing this up?  And on top of what I've already spent!  But I'll soldier on.  For what it's worth this is a savings account I've been meaning to close for a while but haven't gotten around to it.  My cashflow situation is bad but not quite as bad as having just £5 left!

mBlox, Hotwire PR... er, can you resolve this once and for all?  It really shouldn't be this difficult, should it?

Update: Long lost documents have surfaced that can shed some light on those missing early years...

He went to a couple of universities in South Africa (1990-1998) before moving to the UK and continuing his studies at a community college in Oxford (2000-2001)

Photography was in its infancy in the 80s, we can't be sure which one circled is David

For more than a decade G has lived in the historic English city of Oxford.  Whilst there he has philosophised, created art, designed webs and sent out (and charged for) a whole host of unsolicited adult content to those British folk silly enough to use mobile telephonical devices.

Claritas logo designed by the supremely talented 'G'

While David isn't building a vast business empire spanning numerous websites, online shops, ventures and logo designing, he has been busy giving back to the community with his tireless work for Oxford Brookes University (where he uses a computer or something).

A business empire to rival Richard Branson

As well as the good times, there have been hard times for David.  But all throughout his friends and colleagues have been there to help him, to support him.  One such fellow was Mark Henstone, he once worked with David at Spread Media but moved on to mBlox (where he is now a Strategic Account Man-jester or something) Unfortunately all the help in the world couldn't save huge swathes of G's online portfolio, with recent casualties including Spread Media, M-Pimp Limited (clearly pimping ain't easy) and Szassy Mobile.

No matter what ups and downs David has, he never loses sight of his true gift to the world, that being his art...

His work is reminiscent of what Claire, the chick on Six Feet Under slung together created whilst trying to impress her talentless peers and that creepy professor guy.  One picture even reminds me of Mika Miro's later works (nah, just kidding - Joan Miro was talented!)

More will be written on David in the future, he is the man of the moment and there's still plenty to be said.  In the meantime, sit back check out his art (click images for the full size) and finally David, it's over to you...

Philosopher, Artist, Web Designer, Silver Plaque Installer...  A versatile copywriter and creative marketer accomplished in both print and web publishing... with wide-ranging experience in positions demanding high levels of interpersonal and verbal communication skills.

As I have neither the time nor the will to look into all of mBlox's misdeeds I'll just focus on the ones involving Spread Media Limited.  Get in and buckle up...

Hey, look who's responsible!

The infraction back in September didn't, as far as I know, affect me.  It didn't seem to affect anyone by the looks of things.  Or did it?  Well no member of the public complained, but that's not the whole story...

Let's look at September 7th 2007 first (key points):

• A member of the Executive received an unsolicited text message
• they (the Executive member) had not at any time participated in a reverse billed SMS service and that the message had been totally unsolicited
• ...the breaches that had occurred, particularly illegality which is considered as always causing consumer harm...
• The information provider stated they had purchased the opt in list from a 3^rd party and that this party informed them that the mobile number in question had opted in when making a one-off payment for a ringtone/logo in January 2004. No other evidence was presented to support this
• INAPPROPRIATE PROMOTION: UPHELD
• The Executive believed the description of cost as “150p 2 rcv” was not a sufficiently clear format
• Despite no further messages being sent by the user to confirm details, two further chargeable messages were sent to the mobile phone number
• The Executive found that consumers were being charged for operational and instructional messages prior to accessing the service
• The Executive found that the promotional text message failed to display the identity of the information provider or their relevant contact details
• The information provider stated it had tightened its internal procedures, ensuring contact details are now included in marketing messages and ensuring all marketing messages have Director approval before they are sent out

The result was they got away with it (a formal reprimand and a £500 fine, I kid ye not!)  Why?  Because no member of the public made a complaint.  That's not to say no one got ripped off - folk probably knew it wasn't worth all the time and hassle to get a couple of quid back.  If you look at how many hours I've spent and I'm still out of pocket, can you blame people for not complaining?  It's kinda like when some money goes missing from a wallet or purse.  Maybe there's a couple of pounds in there, you leave it on the bar, turn around for a second and although it's still there, the coins have gone.  Do you report it to the Police?  No.  You know they can't/won't do anything, so what's the point wasting your time?  It's a small amount, you put it down to experience and then you move on.

Now let's look at June 19th 2008:

• “the Executive” received 90 complaints about a text chat promotion service, 17 of which formed the basis of its initial investigations.
• Complainants reported that they had received unsolicited chargeable promotional SMS messages
• The information provider confirmed that the service allowed for billed introductory chat messages to be sent at a cost of £1.50
• ...the information provider stated that it had bought a data list from an external supplier
• The Tribunal noted the high volume of consumer complaints (90 in total) which included the evidence of a former employee of the Executive and concluded that the information provider had failed to provide any satisfactory evidence of consumer consent to receive such messages
• Recipients of the unsolicited reverse billed SMS were misled as to the nature of the message
• The content of the messages was misleading.  They suggested that the recipient has been contacted following a referral from another person advising that the recipient was “a lot of fun”
• The Executive considered that the sending of unsolicited chargeable SMS took advantage of the inability of the consumer to block reverse-billed SMS
• operating a service in such a way that consumers were billed without their consent or knowledge, the information provider had taken unfair advantage of this circumstance
• The Tribunal concluded that the service had been promoted in a wholly inappropriate fashion.  It was a chat service which was sexual in nature, and had been promoted to a married man and to a business mobile phone, which had caused problems for both recipients
• The Tribunal’s initial assessment was that, overall, the breaches taken together were very serious
• The information provider appeared to have been reckless
• The service caused material consumer harm
• the Tribunal considered a previous case against the information provider in September 2007, in which the circumstances and breaches were markedly similar to this case. The Tribunal was particularly concerned that in this case the seriousness of the breach had escalated from that of the previous case, suggesting that the earlier formal reprimand and fine had either been ignored or had little impact.

Oh, there's way more and I could've been more concise but hey - there's only so many hours in the day!  So, what do you think readers?  If you were mBlox, would you have worked with Spread Media again?  Even the dodgy regulator stated the whole thing stunk.  Doesn't sound like mBlox cared, does it?

I apologise for any typos and formatting issues.  I just wanted to get this post out there ASAP.