scammed (bluejacked?) £55 on one phone call

majdnem

Can anyone advise me on my rights here before I take this further with Vodafone: My November Vodafone mobile bill shows a 32 minute premium rate call which cost me £55. I didn't make this call. I phoned Vodafone to query the bill. They directed me to contact the regulator of premium rate numbers and suchlike - Phonepay Plus on 0800 500 212. Phonepay Plus advised me that there is 'no service' on the premium rate number on my bill, which, as i understand it, means the number cannot (or can no longer) be dialled. (The number, BTW, was 09072697505.) They also said it belonged to 'PD Media'. Can't identify this company. I got back to Vodafone and they checked this out and agreed that it was some obscure undialable number, but insisted that, as the call was made via my SIM card, they could not be held liable in any way. What are my rights here? I'm certain i didn't make any such call. I suspect my phone was 'bluejacked' and or pickpocketed by someone who dialled the premium rate number and replaced the phone (I've seen this scam on 'The Real Hustle'). Am i within my rights to ask Vodafone to refund this £55? If not within my rights, is it unreasonable to ask them to refund it as a good will gesture? I'm a full-time parent on JSA and really cannot afford to be losing £55 like this. Any advice...? Thanks! George

pcombo

I am sure this can only happen when bluetooth is switched on was yours?. As to your phone being "pickpocketed" for 32 minutes without you noticing then put back i highly doubt.

0907: Pay-for-product services costing more than £1 per call - Have you subscribed to any services etc.

DCFC79

majdnem wrote: »

Can anyone advise me on my rights here before I take this further with Vodafone: My November Vodafone mobile bill shows a 32 minute premium rate call which cost me £55. I didn't make this call. I phoned Vodafone to query the bill. They directed me to contact the regulator of premium rate numbers and suchlike - Phonepay Plus on 0800 500 212. Phonepay Plus advised me that there is 'no service' on the premium rate number on my bill, which, as i understand it, means the number cannot (or can no longer) be dialled. (The number, BTW, was 09072697505.) They also said it belonged to 'PD Media'. Can't identify this company. I got back to Vodafone and they checked this out and agreed that it was some obscure undialable number, but insisted that, as the call was made via my SIM card, they could not be held liable in any way. What are my rights here? I'm certain i didn't make any such call. I suspect my phone was 'bluejacked' and or pickpocketed by someone who dialled the premium rate number and replaced the phone (I've seen this scam on 'The Real Hustle'). Am i within my rights to ask Vodafone to refund this £55? If not within my rights, is it unreasonable to ask them to refund it as a good will gesture? I'm a full-time parent on JSA and really cannot afford to be losing £55 like this. Any advice...? Thanks! George

i cant see your phone being pick pocketed then put back after 30 odd minutes,

KevInChester

Any other people in your house that could have made the call? Unlikely I know.

dfh

why would a pickpocket return a phone after making a call? Does not make sense.

paddyrg

Did you lend a stranger your phone out of kindness sometime?

What model of phone is it? Bluejacking is extremely rare and impossible on most handsets, so it would likely be a very old one?

Coopdivi

PD Media do have a website. It contains links to phone sex etc so I won't link to it

The Domain is registered to one 'Amy Collins' who apparently is a 'non-trading individual'. Hmm....

http://whois.domaintools.com/pd-media.co.uk

One of the linked sites has a list of terms and conditions which includes this address:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]PD Media[/FONT]
55 Griva Digeni Street
Suite 195
Chloraka 8220
Paphos
Cyprus

There's also an email address and a, hopefully non-premium rate, phone number . Have a read through this:

http://www.pd-media.co.uk/toc.htm
[/FONT]

paddyrg

0208 number, absolutely non-premium :-)

majdnem

Wow! - really appreciate all the helpful responses.
Checked my diary against the date and time of the call - on that evening i was out for a quiet drink with 2 or 3 old friends and went to a couple of bars in central Edinburgh. Had the phone with me. I've never phoned such a thing, so i think I'd remember being on the phone to an "[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]adult fantasy chat service[/FONT]" for 32 minutes while in the pub...! *If* i let the phone out of my sight at all it would only have been while i went to the bar or toilet and left the phone on the table in front of my friends. I suppose it is not impossible someone could have grabbed it and dialled that number.
Good to have an idea of what the number is, but is there any point trying to contact the company running the phoneline? What would i say? 'Can i have my money back, please?'
As for the bluejacking, my phone is a Sony Ericsson K750i. Does anyone know is that model bluejackable?
And as for the plausability of a pickpocket taking the phone and replacing it, i agree that it isn't an immediately obvious scam, but i've seen exactly that discussed on TV, and when you think about it, someone got £50+ out of me - thats a good return on the few seconds it takes to dial a number. The phone wouldn't have had to be kept for the duration of the call, would it? Why not return a not-very-valuable phone once you're on yr way to getting that £50? You don't have any low-value stolen property to dispose and can stay sitting in the pub enjoying your drink while some sucker (me) pays for it...
Anyway, realistically, is there anything i can do about this? Should my approach to Vodafone be 'I didn't make this call, so why shld i pay for it?' or should my approach be a request for a refund as a gesture of goodwill towards a customer of several years?
Any advice appreciated. And thanks again for the responses so far! :O)