mobile phone scam

cashman · 02-06-2005, 17:52

my missus keeps getting messages on her mobile saying-your credit is now £600followed by a question. i told her to delete it cos it was a scam,she put £10 on her phone on monday and has just made 4 text messages since.she has now less than £6 credit on her phone, so she rang the phone company asking how 4 texts =£4,customer services told her the only way to stop these messages is to send a text to this company saying STOP,by me telling her to delete they just carry on sending these bloody messages and charging YOU for recieving them so apparently these swine can get your number and do YOU beware am absolutly slavering at this.

chav1 · 02-06-2005, 17:57

surely that is illigal

entwisi · 02-06-2005, 18:01

You have to 'sign up' for things like this, However they are often well disguised. ITICIS(IIRC) is teh telecoms body to complain to.

Ian

rincewind · 02-06-2005, 18:08

it,s not illegal to send the messages without your consent.

many pop-ups on the net advertise 1 free ringtone.............all you have to do is enter your mobile number....or anybody elses which is what happened to a couple of people i know.consequently they were charged for the tones and only found out that by sending the STOP reply message after they were charged a couple of quid or so a piece.

K.S.H · 02-06-2005, 19:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by rincewind

it,s not illegal to send the messages without your consent.

.............all you have to do is enter your mobile number....

It is illegal to send them and charge you without your consent, but as you have mentioned th' net and entering your number you have given them consent to contact you in this way, it will be in print somewhere but it will be hard to find or that small you cant read it! but if you complain they will be able to point you towards it

cashman · 02-06-2005, 22:54

apparently she recieved a message last month saying she had qualified for free credit and the call to ring them back was free, so she did,was told she would get £20 free credit and then never did and forgot about it,then last week the messages started arriving,to which on my advice she just deleted- not realising she was being charged £1-50 just for recieving them,i fail to understand how this can be legal as she never agreed to anything

kingkorab · 03-06-2005, 06:47

I hear a lot about this type of stuff in England. I live in Canada and I have never heard about spam through text messages. Guess we are a little lucky that way or maybe they just havn't hit us yet

Steph · 03-06-2005, 10:32

by ringing the number she agreed to have texts sent to her and by the time we realise we are being scammed its too late and they havealready made a huge profit it isnt illegal as the watchdog have no way of enforcing a ban on these people who use a roaming dial system to keep the numbers generating, they pay people like BT 50% of the call charge to use a random generator for the numbers but BT refuse to accept any blame.

also there is another scam on the go at te moment, it involve ur phone (landline or mob) someone leaves a message for you to call them and when you do it is an engaged tone, this is not actually an engaged tone but a recording of one and every time you ring they charge you between £2.50 and £5.00! so if someone you dont know calls you and says its urgent please be wary of who it is.

mez · 03-06-2005, 10:39

i got one of those messeges yesterday on my moby, didn't recognize the name so didn't reply just deleted it. please be careful & warn all the children who have mobys too.

Steph · 03-06-2005, 11:13

be careful about deleting them also (see above)

cashman · 03-06-2005, 12:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steph

by ringing the number she agreed to have texts sent to her and by the time we realise we are being scammed its too late and they havealready made a huge profit it isnt illegal as the watchdog have no way of enforcing a ban on these people who use a roaming dial system to keep the numbers generating, they pay people like BT 50% of the call charge to use a random generator for the numbers but BT refuse to accept any blame.

i see what your saying steph but dont understand how she agreed with not being asked? also think B.T. are as guilty as these people.

Steph · 03-06-2005, 12:11

she replied by phoning them and BT say that they are not responsible because once they have set up the line it is up to the user to be aware of hoax and con callers

cashman · 03-06-2005, 16:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steph

she replied by phoning them and BT say that they are not responsible because once they have set up the line it is up to the user to be aware of hoax and con callers

yeh but what do you think of BTs role in this disgraceful episode?

Steph · 03-06-2005, 16:11

i think that bt are only looking out for themselves and that they feel pressure from the smaller but better maintained com networks who guard their customers

Sara · 04-06-2005, 18:50

Same thing happened to my daughter (she is only 14), she kept getting messages, she opened them and the next thing she knew she had no credit left. Luckily it was in the observer the same week about a young lass getting ripped of like this by a company called jamster. My daughter did admit to getting a tune of the same company so I contacted the the them and the messages stopped. How many adults is this happening to and they don't know what to do, or in a childs case they are frightened of telling their parents in case they get into trouble for spending to much money. Really makes my blood boil.