Advice About Legalised Theft By Mobile

AManOfKent_2

Hello Fellow Money Savers ,
I could do with some advice from the combined expertise of the panel. Below is a series of e-mails between me and Tesco Mobile. I can not fault their customer service which was very quick and I personally am no longer out of pocket. What troubles me greatly is how easy it seems to me for premium mobile services to rip people off with seemingly no sanction. The last email below from Tesco sums it up , “don’t bother contact the police or OfCom as they will only refer you to us” . A strange case of legalised theft ! What is to stop me buying thousands of phone numbers , doing exactly as happened to me , and then just sitting back reaping the rewards ?
So the questions are ;
Would the police take any action ? (Any police out there ?)
Would OfCom take any action ?
Should I send the STOP message or is it just like email , if you respond they will simply sell your number and it will start over again with a new company ?
Whilst I am no longer out of pocket what is stopping these companies dipping into your money.
Regards
AManOfKent
P.s – After the two texts sent they stopped as mysteriously as they started.

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Original Message

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From: AManOfKent
Sent: 06 January 2011 19:18
To: Tesco Mobile
Subject: Query Bill
Dear Tesco Mobile ,
On the bill I am shown as being charged £1.50 for texts to ####### on 24th December at 20:06:20hrs and on 1st January at 06:04:59hrs.
I can assure you that I did not text anyone at that number at those times. I remember I did receive two texts from who I thought was you advertising some download of a ringtone or other but I did not respond to it and deleted the texts. I have checked the call log on my phone and there was definitely nothing outgoing to that number at any stage.
Can I leave it to you to put the £3 back in the form of a credit please.
Regards
AManOfKent

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Original Message

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From: "Tesco Mobile "
To :"<[EMAIL="andrewlocal&#64;yahoo.co.uk"] AManOfKent [/EMAIL]>
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2011 1:36 PM
Subject: Tesco Mobile Pay Monthly Customer Care Response
Dear AManOfKent,
I have taken a look into your account and can confirm that you have been charged an additional £3 for two premium text messages received form the short code #######.
When a premium text message is received it can be charged between 50p up to £5, the two messages you have received both charged £1.50 each. To stop any further messages coming from the number please text the word 'STOP' in capital letters to the number #######. This will stop any subscription on this number.
On this occasion I will apply a goodwill credit of £3 to your account for these messages, if however you receive any further messages from this company you will need to contact them directly for a refund as they are a third party company and not linked to Tesco Mobile. Below are the contact details you will need:
****** Co Ltd
I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you and if I can be of any further assistance, please feel free to e-mail me.
Thank you
Tesco Mobile E-mail Customer Service Team

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Original Message

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From: "<[EMAIL="andrewlocal&#64;yahoo.co.uk"] AManOfKent [/EMAIL]>
Sent: 08 January 2011 15:09
To: Tesco Mobile
Subject: BWT Re: Tesco Mobile Pay Monthly Customer Care Response
Hello Tesco Mobile,
Thank you for your prompt and thorough reply. It is very good of you to apply the credit as a goodwill gesture , unnecessary but appreciated.
It troubles me how a company such as **** Ltd can just text someone out of the blue in such an uninvited way. There is no difference between what they did and a pickpocket taking money.
All they need to do is send a couple of those messages to thousands of numbers and their ill-gotten gains could run to a very tidy amount. Perhaps it is no coincidence that they sent the messages on two of the busiest days of the year when people would be off guard.
I will be contacting both OfCom and the police in relation to this issue as I feel that what they have done is nothing short of theft.
I will refrain from sending them a STOP text as I did not send them a START text and at this stage have no desire to correspond with them , I will leave that to the relevant authorities.
No doubt they will be in contact with you to prove I did not initiate any texts from them in the first place.
Once again thank you for your reply and goodwill gesture. It is reassuring that Tesco is , as ever , a company of repute.
Regards
AManOfKent

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Original Message

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From: [EMAIL="Support&#64;TescoMobile.com"]Tesco Mobile[/EMAIL]
To: "<[EMAIL="andrewlocal&#64;yahoo.co.uk"] AManOfKent [/EMAIL]>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 9:08 AM
Subject: Tesco Mobile Pay Monthly Customer Care Response
Dear AManOfKent,
Thank you for e-mailing your response to my colleague’s email.
I am sorry to read that you have been experiencing loss of credit from receiving premium text messages from **** Ltd.
Please send the STOP text message as Ofcom and the Police will only refer you to your service provider Tesco Mobile.
They do not have the powers to stop the subscription to **** Ltd; you as the telephone number user concerned has to stop this.
I am truly sorry for any inconvenience this matter may be causing you and if I can be of any further assistance please don’t hesitate to contact me again.
For the latest information on all of our products, services and promotions, please visit: http://www.tescomobile.com
Thank you
Tesco Mobile E-mail Customer Service Team

wantmemoney

'Legalised Theft By Mobile'

You have summed the situation up perfectly. So who benefits financially from this 'legalised theft' ?

The Network Operators have commercial billing contracts with the 'Service Providers' These are the companies that the Networks have allocated the short codes to.
http://www.short-codes.com/pages/index.php

The Service Providers have commercial billing contracts with the 'Content Providers'. The Content Provider. These are the companies that obtain the 'customers' phone numbers. All to often they are obtained from third party marketing list suppliers.

When the customer receives the premium rate sms the Network Operator (o2 in this case) debits the customers account. They retain on average 50% of the revenue and then pass the rest on to the Service Provider. The Service Provider then shares this with their Content Provider.

If the police became involved this revenue would become subject to the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). It would then be very difficult for this revenue flow/share to take place.

ps I believe Tesco uses the o2 network and billing platform.

another ps. just to 'nit pick' It's not actually 'legalised' it's being protected from criminal investigation.

Techhead_2

Surely you just report it to the regulator (phonepayplus) who have the power to fine these premium companies and get you a refund?

Bikertov

Agreed with Techhead ...

Report the company sending the text to PhonepayPlus - http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/output/default.aspx

PhonepayPlus (previously known as ICSTIS) regulates phone-paid services in the UK. These are the premium rate goods and services that you can buy by charging the cost to your phone bill and pre-pay account.

They sort of have powers to stop this sort of service and company from doing this sort of thing, and can levy fines too.

AManOfKent_2

Thank you to Wantmemoney , Bikertov and Techhead for your prompt replies. I will be onto Phonepayplus tomorrow. The whole lot needs a bit of tightening of the regulations. Thanks again.

pmduk

They should restrict the ability to bill items like this to specially licenced companies only. It might stop the cowboys.

wantmemoney

Techhead wrote:

Surely you just report it to the regulator (phonepayplus) who have the power to fine these premium companies and get you a refund?

Bikertov wrote:

Agreed with Techhead ...

Report the company sending the text to PhonepayPlus - http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/output/default.aspx

pmduk wrote:

They should restrict the ability to bill items like this to specially licenced companies only. It might stop the cowboys.

To address the problem of 'Legalised Theft By Mobile' you first have to identify the party responsible and look at the area where the 'theft' is taking place.
The problem has to be addressed at the Network Operator/account level.

PhonepayPlus do not regulate or police mobile phone accounts. They have absolutely no authority in that area.

The only party who can debit a customer's account is the Network Operator (Virgin Mobile/o2 in this case). Why don't we see this scale of problem of unauthorised debiting of accounts with high street banks like Natwest for example? Is it because all the high street banks are subject to stringent FSA regulation?

Several years ago (2004 I believe) the Network Operators successfully lobbied the Government for customer phone accounts to be exempted from the FSA regulations that bank accounts are subject to.
The reason they gave concerned the billing of premium rate services.

this meeting took place in 2006

http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/upload/COLPNetwork06.pdf
City of London Police meet with Network Operators

Background

The City of London Police Economic Crime Department (COLP ECD) met with various Network Operators at the ICSTIS Offices on 1 February 2006. The team of over 100 detectives and support staff at the COLP ECD is accustomed to working closely with a variety of regulatory bodies and in 2005 it was asked to scope the Premium Rate Industry as a whole and focus on criminal elements.

The COLP ECD agreed to meet at ICSTIS on the request of Network Operators and because of the current media pressure on the Premium Rate Industry. Their objective was to educate and advise Network Operators about criminal activity so attendees were not only aware of problems but able to recognise and reduce them.

Offences

The COLP ECD advised Networks of the importance of due diligence and the dangers of doing business with people that they suspected were involved in criminality. It was stressed that Network Operators may be committing offences if they continue to do business with people after such suspicion arises.

Due Diligence

In a closing Question & Answer session between the various Network Operator representatives and the COLP ECD speaker, a series of safety guidelines were recommended to help reduce exposure to criminality. This is a simple guide and it is advisable for Network Operators to seek legal advice should they need further help in understanding this complex issue in depth.

It was advised that the industry should:

• Look at the FSA Guidelines available on the FSA website https://www.fsa.gov.uk. Although Networks are not regulated by the FSA, these guidelines illustrate good practice that can be adopted across the board.
• If a Network becomes aware of criminal activity but chooses to turns a blind eye, the Network may fall into the criminal arena by committing an offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
• If a Network takes money (and keeps it or passes it on) that has been made as a result of criminality (that they knew or suspected was criminal), the Network may also be committing an offence.
• If a Network receives information that businesses further down the value chain are acting suspiciously, they should question it, tell other people they are working with and inform the regulators of their suspicions.