86868 "Multimedia Services Recd" - £1.28

alleyesonme

from a little reading im already aware that opera telecom has been known to send unsolicited sms messages, they rely on people obviously not spending the time or know how to complain any further, therefore £1-£2 in there pocket, multiply that over thousands or hundreds of thousands and you have a very lucrative low maintenence "successful" business, although officially you need to subscribe, this spamming can be done without you subscribing to, they call these broadcasts, simply a list of numbers are sent chargeable and thats that, money in the bank.

it is i believe a prisonable offence, and a heafty fine, well for the likes of me and you it would be but 75k-100k isnt much of a deterent for them compared to the amount that can be made. Im sure they make that in a day or 2.

hope that helps/clears up a little.

r.cordrey

Through ICSTIS I was able to find that the company owning this 86868 number was Opera Telecom. Via http://corporate.mpsonline.org.uk/tpsc/html/Subscribers.asp I was able to get an email address. When I contacted them I got a reply from another company (Netvision) who apparently handle Opera's CS operation, who told me that this number was leased to yet another company called Bergholt! Sounds much like a money-laundering ring!

My view is that Orange are the retailer, they made the charge on my account and are effectively colluding with the scammers by allowing charges to be applied to the recipient of unsolicited messages - and they must be made to repay the money and review their support of these scams. I know of no other situation where the customer is charged for receiving a call or message, and cannot think of a circumstance where it would be justifiable for the recipient to pay.

If this is legal, how do we go about making sufficient stink to get the law changed?

dexsta

Not so long ago I was victim to something similar with the above company but it was 3pounds for a ringtone weekly subscription or sumthing. I thought !!!!!! that and phoned trading standards who told me to contact ICSTIS but i considered the hassle for 3pounds and thought maybe not. Unusally defeatist of me but I knew that the money was long gone to a PO BOX in LONDON!!!

Made me feel stupid, considering i had just written an article called "Don't be a Mug" about how to stop yourself getting conned and scammed... oh the irony...

I heard some people have thrown sim cards away because they cant rid of these types of subscriptions. I also hear that you must type STOP in CAPITAL LETTERS otherwise it wont work!!!

I think there should be a change in the law but scam artists are always ahead of the game unfortunately.

Best of Luck... (ICSTIS is your best bet in these circumstances)

Dexs

r.cordrey

Just an update for general information. Having pursued this with Orange and (via Opera Telecom, Netvision and the Bergholt CS operation, ICCS Ltd) I have today received a cheque for £3 to cancel the charges. They advise that I can register with the Telephone Preference Service at https://www.tpsonline.org.uk to stop these messages being sent in the future from other 'service' providers.

bbb_uk

r.cordrey wrote:

.....They advise that I can register with the Telephone Preference Service at https://www.tpsonline.org.uk to stop these messages being sent in the future from other 'service' providers.

That is in contradiction to the fact that we are supposed to 'subscribe' to these services in the first place before we receive texts from them as that's originally what Orange said to you!?!??

This just proves our point that it is possible to still get these charge texts even though we may not have 'subscribed' to them or any other service for that matter.

puno

Having worked for orange in the past I can give you an insite into how these things work within Orange.

Most operators you speak to will swear blind that you have subscribed to these services and wont refund you. They can refund you upto approx £20 as a goodwill gesture without a supervisors authorisation (refunds above this have to be authorised) All most all operators will tell you to send STOP to the number the message came from. If they are telling you to do this they are NOT acknowledging the fact you did not subscribe.

When you phone them just maintain that you have not subscribed and put the ownus back onto orange, after all they know to the second every text message you have ever sent, if you have subscribed there will be a text to that number to initiate the service, let them prove it! If you get no joy with an operator ask to speak to their supervisor and if this doesnt work ask to speak to the helpdesk manager.

Dont bother emailing them, the emails just go to people who are sat next to those who answer the phones and they often have huge back logs, I dont remember people ever getting a problem solved this way.

Dont bother waiting for a call back they sometimes and all to often forget!

I'm guessing internally orange are fully aware of the problem with rogue text services but wont acknowledge it publicly, If I were complaining about this I would be asking them what they were doing to block these rogue services.

My personal view is that orange wont care unless enough people make a fuss about this, has anyone emailed this whole issue to watchdog? Orange and the rogue text services must be making a packet!

supernudger

I suffer this problem, i'm concerned that if i reply with STOP to a text that has been sent to 'made up' random number that this will just show that the number is live so they can continue to text me or sell the number to another company. I know that this scam works with spam email, as requesting stop confirms that the address is live so you normally recieve more.

anyone got any information about this?

andy88_2

It's a myth that email spam works like that. If it is html email, they can know your email address is valid just from images embedded in it if you view it even in the preview pane. This is why latest versions of Windows block some images in email by default.

Text messages sorry I have no advice

bbb_uk

supernudger wrote:

I suffer this problem, i'm concerned that if i reply with STOP to a text that has been sent to 'made up' random number that this will just show that the number is live so they can continue to text me or sell the number to another company...

That is entirely possible. If they just send you one (possibly even two) texts and nothing else then I'd leave it even if you have been charged. If on the other hand, they start sending you a few more, etc then I know I'd text STOP and e-mail them (if poss), then pass it on to ICSTIS if the STOP doesn't actually stop them.

Remember, a spam email is not chargable so it's very easy to just ignore it without replying or any other consequence but a text message received from these companies are (well can be) chargable and is taken from our credit.

euroboatie

They managed to land me with a premium rate charge of £32; Vodafone suggested I email Opra Telecom but, surprise surprise, no result.

On reading problems encountered by others I re-contacted Vodafone who refunded the money.