Help! My new phone keeps texting Belgium. Anyone else had this problem?

Tamzincaryl

I've had to contact Orange twice now. I've not had a contract phone for long and on my bills, each month, there shows up about 6 text messages to the number 320417896615037. This is not a text I have sent, it doesn't show on my handset and isn't a number in my address book.

When I called Orange customer services they asked me
Was I sure I hadn't made the texts: Yes.
Was I sure noone else had used my phone: Yes

They credited my account, but started to warn me it wouldn't look good if they carried on showing up. I said I wanted to do something that would block the texts and they put a bar on the phone being able to work internationally.

Another month; another bill; another 6 messages to the same number; another call to customer services.

They have told me it is a mystery. It just shows on their billing as a text I've sent. The bar apparently only works on calls, not texts so is no help there. Apparently I just have to keep calling and asking for the charges to be refunded.

This is a pain in the rear. I have only downloaded a couple of apps (all the same that my bro in law has and he has had no problems on the same network) but do wonder if it is something to do with a virus that may have come on an app.

Does anyone have any experience of anything like this happening on their phone (HTC desire S in case that makes a difference)

Thanks

gjchester

Tamzincaryl wrote: »

I've had to contact Orange twice now. I've not had a contract phone for long and on my bills, each month, there shows up about 6 text messages to the number . This is not a text I have sent, it doesn't show on my handset and isn't a number in my address book.

When I called Orange customer services they asked me
Was I sure I hadn't made the texts: Yes.
Was I sure noone else had used my phone: Yes

They credited my account, but started to warn me it wouldn't look good if they carried on showing up. I said I wanted to do something that would block the texts and they put a bar on the phone being able to work internationally.

Another month; another bill; another 6 messages to the same number; another call to customer services.

They have told me it is a mystery. It just shows on their billing as a text I've sent. The bar apparently only works on calls, not texts so is no help there. Apparently I just have to keep calling and asking for the charges to be refunded.

This is a pain in the rear. I have only downloaded a couple of apps (all the same that my bro in law has and he has had no problems on the same network) but do wonder if it is something to do with a virus that may have come on an app.

Does anyone have any experience of anything like this happening on their phone (HTC desire S in case that makes a difference)

Thanks

Backup your contracts

Factory reset the phone and restore your contacts.

Don't load any apps and see what happens, if no problems slowly add apps back a day or so at a time

Tamzincaryl

Thanks.

I'm a bit nervous about doing a factory reset at the moment as it was very fiddly getting some of the personalised things I like on my phone onto the htc (daughter's voice as text message alert etc).

I have uninstalled all apps I downloaded myself. I've also used my pcs avast antivirus to do a scan of the phone for viruses as I've read online that some trojan phone viruses are set up to make the handset send sms.

If that fails, I will try porting back to my old sim to see whether it is something that someone has managed to hack into my new number (can't think that is likely) or I'll push orange to see if I can get a new sim on my contract for the handset. They mentioned having to have my phone to run tests if it carries on, but that makes me nervous too. Can just imagine random charges that they would make for that service.

Techhead_2

That isn't a valid Belgian number, its too long and should start 324 (if its a mobile).

What phone is it? Do these texts happen at any particular time?

Tamzincaryl

Hi. I did wonder about the number, but when I've searched on google I did get some mention of there being some 13 digit numbers in belgium. To be honest I only have orange's say so that it is a belgian number, but can't think what else it could be that shows up as a text starting with 32 otherwise.

It is a htc desire S, just a few months old, but this has shown on every bill. OH doesn't rate contract phones so this is just fuelling his "I told you so, they are a rip off"

There doesn't seem to be any pattern to the times of the texts. Sometimes days will go by with none, then there can be 2 within a minute of each other, or 3 in a single day.

I am thinking of testing a few things for myself....
I've removed all downloaded apps and am going to see whether any more of the texts show up.

If they do, then I am going to swap back to my old pay as you go sim and see if it happens on there, or if any still show up on my contract bill even when I am not actively using the sim (in case it is someone using my number remotely in some way- not sure if that can actually happen though!)

grumbler

Tamzincaryl wrote: »

Hi. I did wonder about the number, but when I've searched on google I did get some mention of there being some 13 digit numbers in belgium. To be honest I only have orange's say so that it is a belgian number, but can't think what else it could be that shows up as a text starting with 32 otherwise.

Does it not have to start with "+" to be international?

Do you send any other messages successfully?

peteb23

Do you have any type of lost or stolen phone tracking app on your phone? - I use Wave Secure.

Some of these rely on a international text to communicate with the phone.

Tamzincaryl

Thanks for all the replies.

Yes, my phone makes all other texts successfully.

No, I have no tracking software downloaded.

On my bill the UK numbers I text to all start 44, no + sign and the mstery numbers (there are two) start with 32, no + sign.

The two numbers are
320417729865207 and
320417896615037

They are both just listed as Text Message on my bill and cost me 17p each time.

I'm trying to find out what those numbers are for but have drawn a blank at the moment.

grumbler

I have Desire (not S) and the sent message details in the phone (not the bill) show the number starting with 07, not 44. The received message details show the number starting with +44, not 44.

I don't understand why the number starting with 32 is treated like international one by orange.

bubblesmoney

what apps did you have?
what were the permissions on those apps?
did any of them have 'send sms' permissions?
were any of the apps downloaded from other sources other than the android market?
Is it a new phone or refurbished phone or 2nd hand phone? Could the phone have been 'rooted' and apps loaded and some hidden from your view if others have used your phone?
Does it have stock firmware or does it have other ROMs installed by others?

The answers to the above questions may provide you some clues as to the cause of the problem. Best of luck

Michael01474

[FONT=&quot]Not sure if this is relevant but googling for "15 digit text message number" brings up a report on an HTC phone from the USA that may be related. Apparently in that case it was displaying the Sim card number rather than the phone number.

I can't post the link but if you google it it should show. I'll PM you it anyway just incase (if I'm allowed).[/FONT]