Virgin Media billing fraudulent premium rate services

wantmemoney

28 October 2005
Information provider N/A
Service provider Datapro Services
Information provider location N/A
Service provider location Grays, Essex
Telephone network Opera Telecom Limited
Service type Adult entertainment
Cost £1.50 per minute
Number of complaints 4
Source of complaint Public, Intra-industry

Adjudication Details

The Secretariat was advised by a phone network of complaints from customers that calls were being made to premium rate numbers without their knowledge or consent. The network suspected fraudulent activity after observing that call patterns for the service were unusual, especially in the West London area, with some of the call durations in excess of 20 minutes.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/31/telewest_icstis/
31st October 2005
Part of the investigation by regulator ICSTIS centred on the fact that the length of the calls made exceeded the usual 20 minute limit for premium rate calls. Datapro Services Ltd - which ran the adult lines - said this had happened because the calls were made by a "skilled engineer" operating in a "position of trust".
[]
A spokesman for Telewest said: "We became aware of a some fraudulent calls made from our street equipment in West London earlier this year.

that was from 2005. West London. Telewest became Virgin Media
The companies Opera Telecom (now named Oxygen8) and Datapro Services

and this from 2009. Manchester area.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1099322_neighbours_baffled_by_xrated_phone_bill
Neighbours baffled by x-rated phone bill
FEBRUARY 27, 2009

PENSIONER Brian Collins was left baffled after being billed by his phone company for a 20-minute call to an X-rated chatline.

Brian, 68, spotted the premium rate number on his Virgin Media bill after noticing it was more expensive than usual.

And the phone company has now launched an investigation after it emerged that a number of customers - many of them living close to Brian - have been hit with the same problem.

and these from 2008
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09083149092
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09066646558
london area Oxygen8 again.

now 2010
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09083916319

numbers being used have changed from Oxygen8 to Switch Services/Premtel Ltd.
I have heard that throughout 2009 Virgin Media started withholding revenue from Oxygen8 because they claimed the revenue was the result of AIT (Artificially Inflated Traffic).

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948677
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948710
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948759
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948739

it appears Joe has been targeted through her roadside box in 2008 and again in 2010

Got a call from 09041948739?
Joe
22 Apr 2010
Virgin media charged me £25.63 for calling 09041948739 which I didn't. I even don't know this number.

Joe replies to someone hacking

I've got another two 090 call charges from virgin media which I didn't make but I have paid two years ago.
09090271146 at 17/04/08, 14' for £17.96
09083143258 at 14/12/07, 6' for £7.75
I am in south east London.

Oxygen8/Datapro Services and SE London again!

Virgin Media are still claiming their customers or their children are making these calls,
To rub insult into fraud they are also conning their London customers into paying £100 call out to fix non-existent 'faults'.

DVardysShadow

Well done for posting links and backing it all up. Just that you forgot to post anything saying what this is all about.

So, what is it about?

wantmemoney

DVardysShadow wrote:

So, what is it about?

Virgin Media customers are being charged for 090 premium rate calls they are not making.

In 2005 customers from West London were discovering premium rate numbers on their bills. The numbers had been supplied by Opera Telecom to a company called Datapro Services.

Datapro admitted that one of their 'engineers' had accessed Telewest's network and placed the calls on the lines of Telewest customers.

Telewest became Virgin Media.
Opera Telecom was renamed Oxygen8

In 2007,2008 Virgin Media customers from the same areas of London again complained about Oxygen8 numbers appearing on their phone bills. The numbers again had been allocated to Datapro Services.

In 2010 Virgin Media customer from the same areas of London are again complaining that premium rate numbers are appearing on their bills. This time the numbers belong to Switch Services who supply them to Premtel ltd.

and it appears the same customers that were targeted in 2007/2008 are being targeted again in 2010

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948739

Got a call from 09041948739
Joe replies to someone hacking
22 Apr 2010
I've got another two 090 call charges from virgin media which I didn't make but I have paid two years ago.
09090271146 at 17/04/08, 14' for £17.96
09083143258 at 14/12/07, 6' for £7.75
I am in south east London.

Those two numbers are Oxygen8 and 09090271146 is Datapro Services.

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948677
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948710
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948759
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09041948739

Virgin Media customers are being robbed.
In 2007/2008 Virgim Media was sharing the revenue with Oxyen8/Datapro Services
today they are share the revenue with Switch Services/Premtel ltd.

DVardysShadow

Are they reinstating the old charges? This looks like a matter for Ofcom.

wantmemoney

DVardysShadow wrote:

Are they reinstating the old charges?

no, individuals who don't realise how the fraud is being operated are being conned into paying the bills and those that realise how they are being targeted are being refunded.

here's a recent case concerning BT customers
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/BT-worker-tapped-Leicestershire-village-phones-ring-adult-lines/article-1929954-detail/article.html

the customers there were only refunded after they carried out their own 'police investigation' and the story was reported in the media.

DVardysShadow wrote:

This looks like a matter for Ofcom.

Networks and Ofcom will only take action if the Networks are being defrauded not the public.

The Networks have systems(AIT) to monitor unusual call patterns concerning premium rate calls unfortunately they only appear to disconnect the lines if they believe they have been set up to defraud the Network.

If the premium rate fraudsters are targeting their customers they use this method:-

Remember when I said from 2008/2009 to 2010 Oxygen8 numbers were being used
what do you make of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsKOtb4pm00