text quiz, scam or not?

yota

I have recently noticed that my account with Orange showed an excessive bill for July 2012 and on checking I found that I had been charged for 5 Premium Rate texts from 83500 which were charged to my account for Speedyquiz.co.uk (aka ME Media Market LTD) or so I was informed bY Netsize who facilitate the arrangements.
I recall that on 07/07/2012 I received a text stating "your code is****" which was quickly followed by another text welcoming me to a quiz whereby if I answered 6 questions correctly I could win an iPad. There was no mention of any fee or terms and conditions, infact most of the texts were started " free message" so I started to answer. They sent me some texts with the questions which I had to answer TRUE or FALSE. Unknown to me I was charged over £5 for each text I RECEIVED.
When I challenged the texts with Orange they directed me to Netsize to whom I made my complaint. They were adamant that I must have given authority despite my denials.
I then took my complaint to the regulatory body Payphoneplus who have recorded my complaint and are currentyl in the process of investigatig ME Media Market Ltd for similar complaints. Has anyone else had this problem. I'M IN THE PROCESS OF COMPILING A LIST OF COMPLAINANTS AND HOPE TO BE ABLE TO PRESENT THE REGULATORS WITH MORE FACTS AND HOW THESE COMPANIES MIGHT BE ABLE TO EVADE THE PIN CHECK SYSTEM WHICH THEY APPEAR TO BE ABLE TO DO, CAN ANYONE HELP

grumbler

yota wrote: »

...AND HOW THESE COMPANIES MIGHT BE ABLE TO EVADE THE PIN CHECK SYSTEM WHICH THEY APPEAR TO BE ABLE TO DO...

What's this 'system'?

That said, there are dozens of companies profiting from premium texts and the regulator is well aware of this.

yota

the system mentioned is one suggested by the regulators to prevent dodgy companies scamming customers.
A company called PINCHECK .CO are used by companies to validate the acceptance of terms and conditions. The customer must be visiting a promotional URL site where they are asked to enter their mobile phone number into a field provided on the URL page where the terms and conditions of the quiz are available. This number when transmitted is then intercepted by pincheck who send the applicant an unique 4 digit pin number to their mobile. The customer is then expected to enter this pin onto the url page and again transmit thus verifying to pincheck that you have agreed to the terms of the quiz and authorises the quiz company to send their texts.
I KNOW I NEVER DID THIS YET PINCHECK HAVE A LOG OF THIS PROCESS HAVING BEEN DONE BY ME. THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE

grumbler

Even if suggested, I don't think that this system has been rolled out yet and/or is compulsory.

yota

the system is actually in operation, how are they getting round it