Have you been a victim of the internet premium rate dial-up fraud?

mariauk

Hi

I had this happen to me a few years ago and it cost me £77. I consider myself lucky as a lot of people have been stung for a lot more. I was with BT dial up at the time and was browsing a well known site and a "test your IQ" pop up appeared. thinking it was a pop up from the site I was on (like an idiot in hindsite very much lacking in IQ on that day!) I proceeded to do the test. Unbeknown to me, my connection had been hijacked and I was now connected to the internet via a £1.50 a minute rouge dialler. To cut a long story short bill turns up, I scream at BT they direct me to Icstis who already knew about this company as there had been many complaints and all they could do was fine them as there should have been a £20 cut off point where you had the option of reconnecting to the premium number. As well as being totally unaware I was paying premium rate for not only being on the one site, it had continued charging premium rate whilst I had been checking emails etc and hadactually physically disconected from the internet. The company agreed to refund any calls over £20 (still unfair as I had not been informed of the rate in the first place) To which hundreds of people sent their details to Germany and never heard another word. Icstis have not got the power to enforce the company to refund anyone and were in fact totally useless. It has nothing to do with your ISP or giving out passwords, it is a ROGUE dialler. I have been on broadband for a while now had have had no further problems but it still goes on, a friend on dial-up got stung a few months ago for £160. Moral of the story, Do not click on anything you are not 100% sure about!

Maria

becky004

Am 100% certain it was an internet dialler as we were in London at the time of one of the calls and in bed for the other! Nobody else has access to my home or phone.
My PC is in standby all time but can no longer access these numbers following my recent rip off!

spankymonkey_2

mariauk seems like we was "had" by the same company. was it mediasky gmbh? if it was by the time ictis got to issue them with a fine they had moved premises and not paid anyone back(which was part of their clause in court) they have more than likely set up another scamming base to rip people off unknowingly..

mariauk

Hi Spanky

The company was Speedworks, this is the email I was sent by Icstis which was a total waste of time, never got a bean back from speedworks and Icstis cannot force them to repay the people they ripped off. More than likely was the same people who just set up again :mad:

This email has been sent to multiple recipients.

Dear Sir or Madam

Online Service - 'IQ Test' - Speed Works GmbH

We are writing further to our correspondence concerning an Internet service provided by Speed Works GmbH, in Germany.

The ICSTIS Committee instructed the company to offer redress to consumers who were able to provide evidence of calls exceeding £20.00, although we must advise that this sanction is not legally binding.

We have recently been advised by Speed Works that they have unfortunately been unable to proceed as quickly as they would have wished with processing claims due to unforeseen administrative issues concerning telephone networks. It also appears that the address provided to you was incorrect and that your correspondence may not, therefore, have reached them. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

We appreciate that you have already contacted Speed Works with all of your details, but to ensure that they are able to consider your claim for a refund of the premium rate charges, including the VAT, please provide them with a short covering letter outlining your claim, a copy of the telephone bill which details the premium rate charges, including the page which details the bill-payers name and address and your e-mail address. For your information, they can be contacted at the following:

Speed Work GmbH,
Postfach 303662
20312 Hamburg fax: 0049 403 252 939
Germany e-mail: customerservice@speed-work.com

Speed Works will be considering a large number of claims and so please allow at least six weeks from the date of writing for a response, but we trust that this matter will be brought to a satisfactory conclusion at the earliest opportunity. Our sincere apologies once more for any inconvenience caused to you.

They ripped off more than 1200 people (its on the Icstis site) and they only got fines £20,000. Like they were bothered. Its all wrong, why have a "watchdog" for the industry, That has no power, its madness!

Maria

hamaradam

I had this same problem, the criminals were a german based company operating a well known scam known to icstis at the time and well known to my ISP, who then should have blocked it. It would not have been unreasonable were there is a well known scam in operation for one to expect the ISP to block this number. (but hey! then they would lose some revenue...) I got great advice from this very site and fought it for 2 years and got it written off by my ISP. Would they have done that then, (written it off) oh smug 'jake-bullet', if it was 'my fault'.....??? I rest my case!!! And yes icstis had them listed but were not really of any help nor were oftel/ofcom, the best information came from this site., as always! Don't pay it! fight it! and don't fall for 'pay it then try to claim it back', either, as, - if a multi-national company can't claim it back how the heck can the average man in the street do so? And it isn't 'your own fault' either..

gregg1

jake_bullet wrote:

Yes Backbiter, you're missing the point that it's not BT (or any other company) who are responsible for ensuring that people use their computers properly.

If you get a dialler on your machine then it's YOUR fault and you are responsible for the bill. If you don't know how to work a computer then perhaps it's best to not own one, otherwise pay for your mistakes like a grown up.

(The references to "you" here are not directed at any individual btw, it's like the royal "we"!)

Utter rubbish - backbiter is spot on with his comments. If what you say is true that it is up to people to make sure their computers properly then by definition how can you not say that BT is responsible for making sure its lines are used properly????? We had a dialler on our machine - NOT OUR FAULT. We had spybot, virus software, firewall, you name it - still got through - do your homework! If you allowed your house or car to be knowingly used to enable a crime you would be an accessory - why should this be any different - BT allowed their lines to be used for fraud pure and simple.

Next time check your facts ("like a grown up").

gregg1

cirrus18 wrote:

Jake_bullet. Well, well, well, thank God you know it all and never make an error. How caring! You would get no sympathy here and in fact you'd give is all a laugh if at some future date a new and sophisticated scam, you have never heard of before, opens up your Internet banking account and clears out your money. After all, even with your superior computer knowledge you must realise is impossible to know everything about everything all the time.

The whole point about this posting is that the authorities have known for a long time that this scam is being perpetuated and have done nothing to stop it.
The Premium-Rate-Numbers overseeing body (http://www.icstis.org.uk/) hasn't any teeth and does very little except levy inadequate fines. The fines are so small compared with the money these criminals are making, they just laugh it off as a legitimate business expense

This is why the people who have been affected are trying to help themselves and bring these criminals to book. Hopefully, they will stir up enough publicity into shaming the government into implementing new legislation stopping this type of crime.

Totally agree with your remarks - especiall the first para - as a scam victim its good to see someone with some common sense (not to mention sympathy!). Thanks

gregg1

cirrus18 wrote:

Would you still agree that it IS your fault if this scam was well-known, had been going on for a long time. If that the authorities who are there to protect you have done nothing, your bank has taken no action, was still paying out money to the criminals and when you ask for redress they tell you to go and seek the money from the thieves yourself. Because that's what the people who have been tricked here have found.

I believe it is perfectly reasonable to blame BT and seek redress from them. They are the ones who are actually paying the money to these crooks. Surely, it is reasonable to expect BT to take some action in this regard. One would imagine that it would be only common sense to withhold payouts to premium rate numbers and companies immediately upon receiving complaints about them. Let the crooks prove that they have a legitimate charge and not the customer.

Exactly - we asked BT to withhold payment to the scammers but they refused, paid up and then came to us for the money - despite the fact that they allowed their line to be used for criminal activities.

suzy_g

hi this scam has just happen to my daughter, bt say they ran a premium number 70 times in 60seconds(something like that) the thing is, they have board band, but they do have one of those amstraid Email phones. we tried this premeum number on the mobile , and got a message saying welcome to the studio sorry you have not been lucky this time, does anyone know what this studio is??

hammy_the_hammer

gregg1 wrote:

Utter rubbish - backbiter is spot on with his comments. If what you say is true that it is up to people to make sure their computers properly then by definition how can you not say that BT is responsible for making sure its lines are used properly????? We had a dialler on our machine - NOT OUR FAULT. We had spybot, virus software, firewall, you name it - still got through - do your homework! If you allowed your house or car to be knowingly used to enable a crime you would be an accessory - why should this be any different - BT allowed their lines to be used for fraud pure and simple.

Next time check your facts ("like a grown up").

i'm afraid you haven't checked up on your facts . bt had an obligation to provide these lines as this is one of the not so great things about the liberation of our telephony market. to blame bt is off the mark ...you need to look at the regulator. thankfully bt have said they will act before the regulator has finished its enquiries to close the lines. i also think bt take 15 pence out of each £100