Companies spamming mobiles & charging £3!

littlewren

Apologies if this has been posted before, but I haven't seen it.

My daughter put £5 credit on her phone 2 days ago, then sent one text to her boyfriend. Routinely checking her credit a few hours later, she found that she had somehow "lost £3"!

As she hates sorting things out like this (but she'll have to learn to not mind!) I told her I would ring Record Shop and try to get to the bottom of it.

After investigating her account, the man asked if she had asked for a ringtone. I told her that no, she had never bought any ringtones from anywhere. He told me that a certain 4 digit number from a ringtone company had sent her a text.

I checked with her and she remembered receiving a text from a 4 digit number. On reading it, it said that she had been picked to receive a ringtone from them. She automatically deleted it and thought nothing more of it.

It turns out that as soon as she opened that text, the company charged £3 just for reading it! I was flabbergasted and very cross on her behalf that this could have happened. The man from Record Shop told me that he'd had loads of people complaining about this and he too had the problem. He in fact changed his SIM card, not knowing what else to do, but said he now knew that you could unsubscribe.

Unsubscribe from a company that you have never subscribed to, let alone heard of? Anyway, that is what she had to do. She had to send the word "Stop" to the number he gave and received a text back saying she would receive no more from them.

How can they get away with sending junk mail to a mobile that costs the person £3?

At least in an e-mail, you can delete it without the envelope actually opening, but how do you do that on a mobile phone? If you see a number you don't recognise, you will automatically open it.

I was given a customer services number for the company and I dialled the number earlier, intending to complain, then I thought - what if I am charged another £3 for this call? Admittedly the number was a London number, but the ringing tone was strange. So I just hung up.

I wonder how many people have been conned like this? >:(

Bogof_Babe

I'm a bit puzzled as to how you knew Record Shop (whoever they are ???) were involved?

Also, for the sake of warning the rest of us, is it possible for your daughter to retrieve the 4-digit number from her phone's memory, so that you can let us all know what it is?

You are right though, it does smell of illegal, or at least extremely dodgy practice. Perhaps your daughter should inform her network provider of this scam - they may be able to block it?

littlewren

Oops, sorry, somehow Virgin was changed to Record Shop! And yes, as I mentioned, they are aware of this but it wasn't mentioned that we/they could do anything about it apart from, as I said, unsubscribing.

How do you retrieve a number from the message section of a mobile once you've deleted it?

juno

I can tell you how to get the number if she's got a Sony Ericsson T610! Otherwise, I don't know, sorry.

aliasojo

As posted by edinburghlass on another thread.......register your mobile with the tps service, then you shouldn't have a problem being targetted with unwanted texts.

Glad

whenever you receive a text like this or one you're not sure about, press reply and send the word STOP in capitals back to them
you may still be charged for that one but they will not send you anymore, it's the recognised way to unsubscribe from text services

Sweetcheeks_3

I am using a virgin sim chip presently and I wasnt amused about receiving a 'spam' type text from them during the night sometime.

My phone is a Samsung and unfortunately it keeps sending out a tone until you open the message. >:( I woke up with a flat battery this morning.

However, unlike the original poster, I wasnt charged for it.

royalsteve

Oops, sorry, somehow Virgin was changed to Record Shop!  And yes, as I mentioned, they are aware of this but it wasn't mentioned that we/they could do anything about it apart from, as I said, unsubscribing.  :(

How do you retrieve a number from the message section of a mobile once you've deleted it?

Phone your mobile network operator and ask them to locate the details. If they say they cant that is bull as it is a legal requirement to keep call/data records. I know as i used to work for a mobile network operator and they conform to the same standards derived from guidelines provided by ofcom.

Glad

most mob phone companies will give you a number to contact but in my experience, you ring the number and it asks you to leave your details and someone will call you back and they never do.

martinalison2004

:mad: I was also charged through a text message regarding free ringtones.
The sender text number was 83332.As anybody else being conned by these people.

littlewren wrote:

Apologies if this has been posted before, but I haven't seen it.

My daughter put £5 credit on her phone 2 days ago, then sent one text to her boyfriend. Routinely checking her credit a few hours later, she found that she had somehow "lost £3"!

As she hates sorting things out like this (but she'll have to learn to not mind!) I told her I would ring Record Shop and try to get to the bottom of it.

After investigating her account, the man asked if she had asked for a ringtone. I told her that no, she had never bought any ringtones from anywhere. He told me that a certain 4 digit number from a ringtone company had sent her a text.

I checked with her and she remembered receiving a text from a 4 digit number. On reading it, it said that she had been picked to receive a ringtone from them. She automatically deleted it and thought nothing more of it.

It turns out that as soon as she opened that text, the company charged £3 just for reading it! I was flabbergasted and very cross on her behalf that this could have happened. The man from Record Shop told me that he'd had loads of people complaining about this and he too had the problem. He in fact changed his SIM card, not knowing what else to do, but said he now knew that you could unsubscribe.

Unsubscribe from a company that you have never subscribed to, let alone heard of? Anyway, that is what she had to do. She had to send the word "Stop" to the number he gave and received a text back saying she would receive no more from them.

How can they get away with sending junk mail to a mobile that costs the person £3?

At least in an e-mail, you can delete it without the envelope actually opening, but how do you do that on a mobile phone? If you see a number you don't recognise, you will automatically open it.

I was given a customer services number for the company and I dialled the number earlier, intending to complain, then I thought - what if I am charged another £3 for this call? Admittedly the number was a London number, but the ringing tone was strange. So I just hung up.

I wonder how many people have been conned like this? >:(

rag_doll

I've only had my phone a month & I've received 3 texts informing me that I have an 'X-WAP application'. The info in the subject line is always suggesting that it's !!!!!! of some sort, have never opened the file. I've phoned 'Orange' each time, they've traced the texts. 2 have been from 'Jungle Telecom' & the other from a company whose name I've forgotten! I phoned 'Jungle Telecom' to unsubscribe & sent 'STOP' via a text to the other 1. 'Orange' were helpful, so they should be! They said to call them again if I receive anymore & that they would credit my account if I'd been charged for receiving any of these texts.
It's against the Data Protection Act but, at the moment, 'Orange' said there's nothing more they can do. The joy of technology!!