2 posts tagged “stop all”

Regulate this!

Been otherwise engaged today, so not been blogging or looking into the scams.  However I've been talking to my niece (and about to talk to my nephews) about these dodgy messages and the emptying out of one's PAYG/pre-pay account.

What I've discovered is that my niece was scammed and lost a bit of money too.  Compared to me, that 'bit' was a huge amount (both her and her mum aren't entirely sure but we're talking at very least £10).  I guess, according to the industry, she deserved it though.  Why?  Well all (or part) of this was after she ordered a ringtone or wallpaper (or such like, it was over a year ago and she can't quite recall everything).  Those scams are now regarded as the classic ones, these actually did make the news - well the Crazy Frog ones did.  Anyway, she would've been around 10 at the time and wouldn't have had any idea of what was about to happen.

Did she send STOP ALL, or anything like that?  Again she can't remember, it was such a long time ago.  What she does know is that once her credit had been emptied (as soon as she topped up it was empty again) she ditched the SIM and phone number.  My niece learnt her lesson by the looks of things as she hasn't been scammed since.  Not that avoiding scams doesn't mean you won't get robbed, it just makes it less likely and you won't get any crap about how "you must've opted in sir".  Actually you will, you'll get that crap from the network, the regulator and the scammer but you can tell them that without a doubt you didn't.  If you're fortunate to be a contract customer you can show 'em your bill to prove it too!  Shame pre-pay customers get screwed (they have no proof!)

This experience shows how companies like mBlox (I'm not implying they were involved in this one as I don't know, maybe they were, maybe they weren't) and their clients can take advantage of those that are vulnerable to these scams.  It shows how premium shortcodes service providers are taking advantage of PAYG users - especially those that are too young to understand the implications of "just" buying a ringtone, wallpaper or whatever.

Well I've got her old number and know that it's T-Mobile, so I'll be seeing if they can work out the provider (are the networks required to keep billing records of PAYG customers in the UK?

With the amount of UK youngsters with mobiles is anything to go by, and if my niece's experience is the norm rather than the exception, there's some serious questions that need to be addressed by the industry and PhonepayPlus.  Can you imagine how much the networks, the aggregators and the "service" providers make out of these?

I was interrupted earlier and left it there, whilst I've been away we've been looking at my nephew's PAYG phone on T-Mobile.  Eeek!  It's full of crappy spam messages and we're trying to figure out where they came from.  Despite my run ins with these people and what I've found out online, I'm still gobsmacked.  Nephew claims that he didn't subscribe to anything and I believe him.  In the unlikely event he is wrong, there''d still be no excuse - certainly judging by the content of some of the messages.

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!)