Anyone heard of CoMob or pfi-sf?

zaksmum

Friend just got a message from a company called CoMob, sending a receipt for £30 for 5 entries into a competition. The message adds HELP? 02035405938 [email]care@3d106@pfi-sf.com[/email]

She messaged them several times to say she hadn't entered anything and didn't want to either but just keeps getting a standard response thanking her for feedback.

She phoned Orange, her network, and they said it's probably a scam so ignore it as there's nothing on their system.

Anyone know anything about this company please? Thanks

cookie365

Orange have already given her the answer.

Silk

Your friend needs to check that they have not been charged ...although Orange say they don't have it on the system have they checked for charges ?
another thread was started here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5034486

zaksmum

cookie365 wrote: »

Orange have already given her the answer.

Today they called her to say the £30 charge has indeed been made.

zaksmum

I had never heard of these people and cannot believe they can legally charge amounts of around £30 to anyone's phone!

sdduk

Its happening to a lot people its a scam going around.
http://www.smswatchdog.com/text-message-from/02035405938/1
http://www.unknownphone.com/search.php?num=02035405938
http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Pay-monthly-services/Unsolicited-text-charging-30/td-p/2310802

zaksmum

sdduk wrote: »

Its happening to a lot people its a scam going around.
http://www.smswatchdog.com/text-message-from/02035405938/1
http://www.unknownphone.com/search.php?num=02035405938
http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Pay-monthly-services/Unsolicited-text-charging-30/td-p/2310802

I'm amazed so many people have been ripped off by this scam and nothing has been done about it!:(

crism

I've been scammed out of £6 just yesterday.
I've opened a text and next thing I know I see £6 charge on my 3 account. I have called the network right away.
What I've been told is that websites can track our mobile numbers and apply charges for clicking on a banner or a link. This apparently can also happen when playing online games, using smartphone apps or visiting adult websites. I've been advised to call the number provided and request removal of my mobile number from these scammers database. I did so although nit speaking to anyone I have left my mobile number on a answermachine and requested removal of my data. Oh and of course it makes sense not to leave any names or contact addresses.

I did some research on the topic as was interested in PC network privacy in the past and was wondering if old security methods work with todays internet access devices.
And so, as it is coming out using proxy servers which mask our activity online may be a solution for safer browsing. As many of you may know proxy servers can be used as the internet gateway and so any connection we make is routed through such server, effectively masking out personal data and mobile numbers. I is completely safe although its better to use genuine or paid for services. I am not sure yet if these may be available through network operators like 3 (my operatir) but if not, there are paid services online to which we can subscribe and use their proxy servers addresses to safely use internet.

I have found an interesting article here and will be investigating further. In a meantime 3 returned the 6 pounds to my account as 'a gesture of good will'. I have blocked any premium numbers and blocked any over monthly allowance spending.
The website I may have visited that charged me was accessible through facebook - one of the 'funny stories' one. As it is comming out the situation in which we found ourselves in is not that funny after all.

Crism

crism

and here is a research paper about mobile internet access security. It may be a bit techy in places for those not interested, but I'm sure reading this will shed some light onto this scam situation. This research paper suggests that mobile networks operators could be held responsible for leaking private data because of not ensuring that internet access using mobile networks is completely safe.

http://www.mulliner.org/collin/academic/publications/mobile_web_privacy_icin10_mulliner.pdf