Unwanted text messages

angelface34

Hi, my husband is being bombarded with pornographic text messages from a company called Bluestream Mobile Limited we have not been able to stop them and O2 can't block them either. Because of this he has now been cut off from O2 due to the cost of these text messages which were not signed up for. Can anybody help? We have reported them to Phone pay plus and contacted the company direct with no reply or refund.

Silk

angelface34 wrote: »

Can anybody help? We have reported them to Phone pay plus and contacted the company direct with no reply or refund.

Send a LBA to the company and then claim through MCO if they don't refund the money

angelface34

thanx but what is a LBA and MCO?

Silk

angelface34 wrote: »

thanx but what is a LBA and MCO?

LBA = Letter Before Action

MCO = Money Claim Online

Intasun32

angelface34 wrote: »

Hi, my husband is being bombarded with pornographic text messages from a company called Bluestream Mobile Limited we have not been able to stop them and O2 can't block them either. Because of this he has now been cut off from O2 due to the cost of these text messages which were not signed up for. Can anybody help? We have reported them to Phone pay plus and contacted the company direct with no reply or refund.

@Angelface34,

You have been a victim of the scam known as unsolicited Reverse Bill Texts, like hundreds of thousands of us each year.

First you must contact Bluestream Mobile Ltd and tell them that you demand a refunas you have not subscribed to their service. They will tell you that you have, either online or by landline as they lie through thir back teeth! If as you say they have not replied then call Phone Pay Plus and inform them.

Do you have the shortcode number (The five figure number of the incoming text, it will start wih an '8') that you received the texts? With this number you can obtain full information on the PP+ web site.

This scam has been allowed to contiue for many years because;

1) The networks, in your case o2, can take up to 50% of the money you have been charged for the texts as admin. :eek:

2) The Government take 20% in VAT :eek:

3) Phone Pay Plus, the premium rate regulator, keep in business with the money that they fines companies such as Bluestream Mobile when they break the rules in scamming mobile phone accounts. :eek:

4) The Police cannot act unless asked to do so by PP+ ( Reason: see No. 3), to date no action has ever been taken in Law again a scammer. :eek:

I could go on and on but these are the important facts. :T

You say you have not subscribed to this service then you must contact the company and also make a formal complaint to Phone Pay Plus. O2 have a responsibility to you the customer you will have to fight them to get them to act on your behalf, but do it.

There are plenty of threads on this forum with cases such as yours and they will give you an insight of how to fight these bastedos!

:beer:

Silk

Intasun32 wrote: »

First you must contact Bluestream Mobile Ltd and tell them that you demand a refunas you have not subscribed to their service. They will tell you that you have, either online or by landline as they lie through thir back teeth! If as you say they have not replied then call Phone Pay Plus and inform them.

Hi Intasun,
Fully agree with all that ...however the OP already stated

Can anybody help? We have reported them to Phone pay plus and contacted the company direct with no reply or refund

Hence the only action left to take is a final demand and go through the courts

Wintermute

Silk wrote: »

Hence the only action left to take is a final demand and go through the courts

I'd speak to o2 as well, they can contact the company on your behalf too, contact them, inform them that you've attempted to contact both PP and the company responsible for the texts. Ask them to hold the amount you're being billed in dispute until you have reached a resolution with PP or Bluestream, pay your normal line rental and bills and that should prevent the phone from being cut off until you resolve this issue. You probably will need to pay o2 the money, but they should allow you to hold off paying them that until you get it back from Bluestream.

Ypaymore

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2008/08/blue-stream-mobile-fined-for-p.html

Gimp0r

I Complained to PP+ about these idiots about 18 months ago, It was a payg belonging to one of our employees that was affected, He had received a text message offering some kind of "Free !!!!!!" in the middle of the night and had followed the link, we worked out how it works and why they keep charging you even if you text "stop" back to them

First you receive a text offering free !!!!!! with a link like freepornorwhatever.com/ghaskodjfjn
the last random looking digits are unique to the text you receive.
If you then go and visit the site, because you are the only one requesting the page with those same digits then they can tie your phone number to the person going to that page.
The page will have loads of thumbnail pictures or videos and a little note at the bottom that says something like "we will charge you £1.50 for every picture that you download from this page"
Even if you notice this and close the connection its too late, your browser will have already downloaded a lot of the pictures (Thumbnails) and they think they have a right to start charging you.
You will then get loads of text messages, usually 3-4 a day in my experience each charged at £1.50
They will be "Queued" up in their system waiting to be sent as you are effectively being invoiced for something you have agreed to receive and pay for.
At this point texting "Stop" or "Stop All" is pretty useless (you probably should do it anyway as it will stop even more being added) as they will have hundreds of pounds worth queued up in the system waiting to be sent (Don't get this confused, Some will be with your mobile operator (If you have no credit they will only stay there for about 72 hours) the majority will be queued in the premium rate operators system already in the system as they think that they are owed the money.

It worked out well for us as we had a corporate contract with orange and i called them about it, they agreed to refund the money to the phone which only lasted a few days, I got a number from orange for Bluestream and called them, After a little argument/discussion where they tried to convince me that the money was owed because of the "Contract" formed by visiting there website, they put a "block" on the phone number so that it could not incur any more charges (they "couldn't" stop the 200+ messages already in the system waiting to be sent and charged at £1.50)

It seems the only easy way to get away from these people is by changing your number or paying and taking them to court, Our guy changed his number and let them get away with it

Good luck

colinicky

Should be noted as well that if you are on T-mobile ( & I believe Orange) you can call customer services & request them to block short code text messages . As far as I know no other provider offers this facility .

Intasun32

Silk wrote: »

Hi Intasun,
Hence the only action left to take is a final demand and go through the courts

@Silk,

Not quite!

The fact that Angelface34 has stated that they have never subscribed to such a service it is up to Bluestream Mobile to prove that they have. This is something they will only be able to do if you have subscribed by sending a text from your own mobile account. Your network will confirm that the text has been sent, or not as in this case. The 'Cowboy' companies will then say that you have subscribed online or by using a land line but it is up to them to prove. In nearly all case when confronted they say that you were sent the texts in error and offer a refund but sometimes not!

Scams such as this are made with the use of purchased customer lists (How I was scammed) which is against the rules and regulations laid down by PP+. Not that PR company takes any notice of it! They also use software which will sent texts to randomly generated , also against the Law, but then they don't bide by the Law. Sadly there is no authority that is willing to protect us.

In a perfect world, yes, you would take them to court but I have yet to read of any court action being taken by a victim of such a scam, successful or otherwise. The costs involved against the loss from the mobile account would not make it worth your while and these scammers know it.

@Ypaymore,

Very interesting link, well done.

So Bluestream Mobile have history, and as you can see from below found on the PP+ web site / Adjudications they have been in trouble before

04 March 2010
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider Wireless Information Network LtdInformation provider location Bucks Service provider location High Wycombe Telephone network All mobile networks Service type WAP pay-per-page Cost £3 - £6 per page, billed £1.50 Number of complaints 67 Source of complaint Members of the public Fine 7500 Sanction A Formal Reprimand


04 March 2010
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider MX TelecomInformation provider location Bucks Service provider location London Telephone network All mobile networks Service type WAP pay-per-page Cost £3 - £6 per page, billed £1.50 Number of complaints 359 Source of complaint Members of the public Fine 50000 Sanction A Formal Reprimand

31 July 2008
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider Wireless Information Network LtdInformation provider location London Service provider location High Wycombe Telephone network Mobile Operators Service type Video promotions Cost £1.50 per transaction Number of complaints 10 Source of complaint Public Fine 6000 Sanction A formal reprimand

31 July 2008
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider Sybase 365Information provider location London Service provider location Berkshire Telephone network Mobile Operators Service type Video promotions Cost £1.50 per transaction Number of complaints 9 Source of complaint Public Fine 24000 Sanction A formal reprimand

13 May 2008
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider Wireless Information Network LtdInformation provider location London Service provider location High Wycombe Telephone network All mobile networks Service type Mobile Content Downloads – WAP Access Cost Picture downloads £1.50 each, Video downloads £3.0 Number of complaints 0 Source of complaint PhonepayPlus monitoring Fine 7000 Sanction Formal reprimand; a requirement that WIN Ltd seek and implement compliance advice

24 October 2007
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider MX TelecomInformation provider location London Service provider location London Telephone network All mobile networks Service type Adult content download Cost 69944 - £1.50 per reverse SMS Number of complaints 0 Source of complaint ICSTIS Monitoring Fine 7500 Sanction A formal reprimand; A bar on the service until it was compliant; The information provider must submit any new advertisement to the ICSTIS compliance team for advice (Case Ref: 705402)

05 September 2007
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider MX TelecomInformation provider location London Service provider location London Telephone network All mobile networks Service type Adult content download Cost 69944 £1.50 per reverse billed SMS (Picture packs Number of complaints 0 Source of complaint ICSTIS Monitoring Fine 7500 Sanction A formal reprimand, A bar on the service until it is compliant, The information provider must submit any new advertisement for copy advice

02 April 2007
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider MX TelecomInformation provider location Marlow - Buckinghamshire Service provider location London Telephone network All mobile networks Service type Adult mobile service Cost 82007 - Between £1.50 and £4.50 Number of complaints 1 Source of complaint Intra-industry Fine 5000 Sanction Bar on service until compliant with the Code of Practice, Formal reprimand, Future promotional material to be submitted for approval, (Case Ref: 294566)

02 April 2007
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider Wireless Information Network LtdInformation provider location Marlow - Buckinghamshire Service provider location High Wycombe Telephone network All mobile networks Service type Adult mobile service Cost 69555 - Between £1.50 and £4.50 Number of complaints 1 Source of complaint Intra-industry Fine 5000 Sanction Bar on service until compliant with the Code of Practice, Formal reprimand, Future promotional material to be submitted for approval, (Case Ref: 294567)

23 October 2006
Information provider Blue Stream Mobile LimitedService provider Wireless Information Network LtdInformation provider location N/A Service provider location Buckinghamshire Telephone network All mobile networks Service type Reverse-billed SMS Cost £1.50 per message received Number of complaints 0 Source of complaint Monitoring Fine 5000 Sanction Access to the service barred until it complies with the ICSTIS Code of Practice, Formal reprimand

:beer: