Mobiplanet UME Limited premium rate scam

Ian011

SaveMeDo wrote: »

The O2 shop guy advised me NOT to phone the scammer as they would keep me on the line for ages at premium rates

The "O2 shop guy" is a moron. It is illegal for premium rate 084, 087 or 09 numbers to be offered for customer service lines. The number to call would very likely be an ordinary 03 number.

allaningledew17

unfortunately today I had the joy of dealing with this company, i thought
the texts I was receiving we're spam so i ignored them.
it wasn't until this morning I noticed an extra £22 on my phone bill so enquired to three mobile who told me it was from a scam called mobi planet, if you click on one of there banners or pop ups you're automatically subscribed, this subscription is £4.50 a week , I had 33 weeks of payments to them totalling £148.50, my provider gave me a number to contact to stop the texts and they have me an email address to write to to receive a refund.
I wrote to them explaining I never subscribed willingly to there service and to cut the story short they owe me £148.50.
after a few emails back and forward where they offered me goodwill gestures of £16 then £67 (I politely refused these and said I would take it further) they offered me a full refund.
apparently I will receive a text in the next 7 days , I have to take it to the post office and show them and they will issue me cash..
please don't be robbed by this company and force through the refund issue.

Ian011

Do report your experience to PSA.

If no-one tells PSA what is going on, they will remain unaware of the scam.

doublemm

allaningledew17 wrote: »

unfortunately today I had the joy of dealing with this company, i thought
the texts I was receiving we're spam so i ignored them.
it wasn't until this morning I noticed an extra £22 on my phone bill so enquired to three mobile who told me it was from a scam called mobi planet, if you click on one of there banners or pop ups you're automatically subscribed, this subscription is £4.50 a week , I had 33 weeks of payments to them totalling £148.50, my provider gave me a number to contact to stop the texts and they have me an email address to write to to receive a refund.
I wrote to them explaining I never subscribed willingly to there service and to cut the story short they owe me £148.50.
after a few emails back and forward where they offered me goodwill gestures of £16 then £67 (I politely refused these and said I would take it further) they offered me a full refund.
apparently I will receive a text in the next 7 days , I have to take it to the post office and show them and they will issue me cash..
please don't be robbed by this company and force through the refund issue.

Any luck to getting the refund? We have been charged too What information you submit to them to get the refund? I am seriously scarred to give them our number via email!!

paulmu

Anyone affected by these 'charge to bill' scams needs to be robust in demanding a full refund.Don't waste time arguing with them - if they refuse a FULL refund, send a letter before action and follow the Small Claims procedure. Help and advice is available from the payforitsucks website: https://payforitsucks.co.uk/im-not-getting-anywhere-with-my-case/

Lazouch

I've been through the whole process and yes, the text does come after 7 working days, and yes, the post office will exchange it for cash.
Their whole business model relies on people getting worn down and not claiming all of their money back. Be firm and persistent, then make a trip to the post Office and you'll get a full refund.

Mad_Ranger

My son, who has a pay as you go with vodafone has been scammed by this scammer. It's 2x £4.50 i have spoken to them and they have been great. They have blocked sms premium messages.

debdoyle

Can someone tell me how you get these charges stopped?
I received no text messages from them. Mobiplanet is taking £4.50 every Monday .
My network 3 said to Google the helpline number and that just rings or puts you in a queue for ages, in the end I hung up.

payforitsucks

debdoyle wrote: »

Can someone tell me how you get these charges stopped?
I received no text messages from them. Mobiplanet is taking £4.50 every Monday .
My network 3 said to Google the helpline number and that just rings or puts you in a queue for ages, in the end I hung up.

Mobiplanet use the 83463 Shortcode. Sending STOP ALL to 83463 should stop further charges. This text is chargeable but shouldn't cost more that about 12p which you can add to your refund claim. You can then call UME Ltd on 0333 247 0335 to insist on a FULL refund. You an also email them at [EMAIL="help@umelimited.com"]help@umelimited.com[/EMAIL].



You need to be aware that your network leak your phone number to third parties when you access the internet using mobile data, and this is probably how your number was acquired in order to make these charges. The system which does this is called 'Payforit'.

These companies use vulnerabilities of the 'Payforit' system to obtain consumers numbers and sign them up to bogus subscriptions. Simply closing an innocent looking popup can pass your number to these scammers.


The regulator, the Phone-paid Services Authority is currently consulting on changes which will introduce two factor authorisation for these "services". This will defeat most of the exploits used by scammers to auto-subscribe consumers. EE have already implemented this, with a very large drop in complaints as a result. It seems likely that other networks will now be forced to do the same.


Full details of these scams and how to deal with them are on the "Payforitsucks" website.

thomonds

I got a text this week from MobiPlanet with the usual £4.50 sting but on checking my phone records, realised that I had been charged £4.50 every week since last June. I contacted THREE who wanted nothing to do with it but eventually agreed to credit on account (not refund) for £80 as I pestered them, they also said they would TRY to stop future scam charges like these but cannot guarantee, I then tackled these con artists MobiPlanet who I contcated by email to have a record and in fact leaving a call was useless as they never answer phone plus text did not work. They agreed to cancel teh service but I could swing for the refund of £189 ( I know my stupidity for not checking my account more regularly) I threatened Ombudsman & legal avenue but they only upped it to £18 which was "very gracious " of them. I then quoted them EU law from 2104 that states you have to inform customer of contract & give them cooling off period of 14 days, if you dont cooling off period auto extends to 1 YEAR, they are digesting that now & I will await their replies, so lets see what happens, will keep you posted!!