Unknown dialup dialler has cost me

spankymonkey_2

well i am a regular on a forum called the scream, where you can ask for advice on anything to do with your pc, viruses and downloads and problems etc. there is a long thread on there about dialers and many people that have been scammed. some people actually got their money back! i doubt i will see my £50 as the company that scammed me dont even have the same email address any more!

Finishrich

Can anyone suggest the best way to remove these diallers from your PC. Luckily I haven't come across them, but just had a friend on the phone, seem like a dialler has run up a £45 BT bill, he's blocked the 09 numbers with BT but was wondering about getting rid of it off the PC. I did ask him if he had antivirus software on his PC and he didn't know :eek: (you get the picture) so I'm assuming he hasn't got spybot, adaware, firewall etc either.

Any suggestion to help would be appreciated.
Thanks

I filled in the details of the dialler number in one of the websites mentioned above and this is what it came up with:

"This is what we know about the number you entered (09090244927).

We have the following information about this number.
It's a adult online service using the Internet and costs £1.50 per minute.
Our description of it is: connection to an internet website offering material such as adult, mobile phone or games services and is accessed using software which dials the premium rate number you queried. The cost is not included in your usual internet charges.
This service is under investigation by ICSTIS. Click the following 'More…' link for all the information we can provide you at this time. More...
We also have contact details for the company that provides this service. If you have any queries about it, please get in touch with them to find out more.

Net Technology Inc.
1215 Polaris Parkway
Columbus
Ohio
43240
USA"

criminal_smile

Samsyerman.......If you want to speak to someone on the phone about this, click on the consumer advice link in my sig......then ring the number at the top of the page (9-5 mon-fri Sorry it's 0845....but we don't have a local number!). This will get you through to Consumerline...who I work for. We are the civil advice line for Trading Standards in N.I. and based on how far you have got at this stage may enable us to advise you of your options. But read on before doing so.

TBH, it's all up in the air at the moment. Like I said, OFCOM are investigating the relationship between the service providers (BT et al), and the companies who download the diallers. While the telephone providers claim they cannot stop these companies from doing this, they are quite happy to take their cut and pass on the rest of the profits. OFCOM believes that this is to the detriment of the consumer, and the telephone companies are once again lining their pockets at the expense of the man on the street. This can be classified as unfair, and as such, the telephone providers are now at the sharp end of a very pointy stick. OFCOM have decreed that if they believe a company to be operating a 'rogue dialler' scam, they will freeze ALL profits. This includes those being made by the providers. If they DO eventually rule that the telecom providers are responsible...the small claims court will be a very busy place, and this will be on top of a hefty fine.
The current line from the providers is that it is your responsibilty to ensure that you do not download any malicious content while using their internet services. While I agree that every internet user has a duty to protect their computer from malicious content, you should not have to provide security against someone misusing a service you pay for.
The telephone providers have a duty to you as a consumer. You pay them for a service, you expect them to ensure that you get the best from this service. If you are getting ripped off through this service.....who do you hold responsible? For legal reasons there are other issues I cannot discuss here, but I would advise any who has been the victim of a rogue dialler scam to initially make a written complaint to their telephone service provider, and if not satisfied with the outcome / response, to then pursue this by making a formal complaint to ICSTIS.

Disclaimer:- Any views I have expressed in this forum are NOT the views of Consumerline. They are personal, and as such I hold myself personally liable for them.

criminal_smile

Finishrich wrote:

Can anyone suggest the best way to remove these diallers from your PC. Luckily I haven't come across them, but just had a friend on the phone, seem like a dialler has run up a £45 BT bill, he's blocked the 09 numbers with BT but was wondering about getting rid of it off the PC. I did ask him if he had antivirus software on his PC and he didn't know :eek: (you get the picture) so I'm assuming he hasn't got spybot, adaware, firewall etc either.

Any suggestion to help would be appreciated.
Thanks

This may seem like a hassle at the start, but well worth the effort. In Internet Explorer, click on Tools-->Internet Options. When the window opens, click the 'Connections' tab. There are 3 radio buttons. Choose 'Never dial a connection', then 'Apply', and then 'Ok'. Any time you need to connect to the internet, you will then have window open, showing the connection the PC is going to dial. If it isn't your ISP, then you should check that you HAVE got a connection for your ISP, and delete the other one. Not completely foolproof, but means you can't automatically dial into a premium rate line.
To get rid of a connection, just highlight it, then click delete. This should clear all details of the connection.
HTH

Finishrich

Thanks. I read that in one of the earlier posts, he said that he does have to click connect to access the internet so I'm assuming he has it set to Never dial. I spoke with him on the phone to talk through the tool, internet options etc but the timer just kept appearing and wouldn't take him to the internet options page. When he does connect to the internet it dials but then this dialler knocks the line off and dials itself. There are also 3 icons on the desktop Adultplay, s expass and stiukk00002. He's tried deleting them but they just come back.

I've had a look at the geeks to go web site and printed some stuff that shoud help, I'll probably go and see them over the weekend easier than explaining over the phone, he's more into building houses than computers

criminal_smile

Not entirely sure what you mean by the timer running out. Internet options is part of an application, not a webpage, and therefore has no loading timer (unless of course you mean the windows eggtimer icon!). If the geekstogo stuff doesn't work, then definitely come back....we'll have another look at it for you.

spankymonkey_2

i would tell your friend to download spybot s+d. this will get rid of them.
Add and remove will not take them off...

samsyerman

Thanks criminalsmile for your advice.

I have sent you a pm detailing the action I have taken.

samsyerman