tip-deck mobile text scam

Dave_too

Here are the details of a mobile phone text-message scam I've just been hit by.

They took money from me yesterday.
It's only £9, but it's the brass-necked theft that really gets me going!

It started with a text yesterday, on my private mobile number.
The message text was:

"To access your latest TipDeck alerts, visit our site at <removed for forurm post> tip-deck <email address>"


Funny that, I have never heard of TipDeck and definitely never subscribed to such a service.

I've heard of premium rate scams, so I googled it and found their website. There was a support number.

I had to find it myself, because the SMS text message had
- no details of any fees,
- no details of how to remove yourself from the service, and
- doesn't explain they are taking your money without you knowing.
- There were no earlier text messages either. This was the first message


I phoned their "support" line (found it on their web page web) and was told the following:
- they had taken £9 from my phone account without my knowledge
- the support line was also a premium rate line
- no they did not know how much it costs. To clarify, their actual words were "I don't know" when I asked how much this "support" call to unsubscribe from something I never subscribed to, would cost.
- The call-centre person said I would be unsubscribed if I gave them my number
- Tip-deck has no management or in fact no person at all to speak to, they could only un-subscribe me
- they could not issue a refund
- they could not tell me when or where they claimed to have subscribed me
- when I asked questions, they started reading from a script very loudly "This is the subscription department and we can only unsubscribe, we don't do anything else" before putting the phone down quickly, when I asked to speak to someone else.

This was very obviously an attempt to hide away and avoid answering any questions.
- when I phoned again I gave my number to unsubscribe, but was quickly cut off after that, as soon as I asked for details of the scam company.

I emailed their amusingly-titled "support" address with the following:

1. You have been charging me for a service I have never heard of, and never subscribed to.
2. This is obviously a scam and I will be taking it up with the relevant authorities.
3. In the meantime, you will pay me back the unauthorised charges you have taken from my account without my permission.
4. My details are below. Feel free to phone me and email me if you have any queries.

Am now waiting to see if they will return the money they took without permission.
:mad::mad:

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Dave_too wrote: »

Here are the details of a mobile phone text-message scam I've just been hit by.

They took money from me yesterday.
It's only £9, but it's the brass-necked theft that really gets me going!

It started with a text yesterday, on my private mobile number.
The message text was:

"To access your latest TipDeck alerts, visit our site at <removed for forurm post> tip-deck <email address>"


Funny that, I have never heard of TipDeck and definitely never subscribed to such a service.

I've heard of premium rate scams, so I googled it and found their website. There was a support number.

I had to find it myself, because the SMS text message had
- no details of any fees,
- no details of how to remove yourself from the service, and
- doesn't explain they are taking your money without you knowing.
- There were no earlier text messages either. This was the first message


I phoned their "support" line (found it on their web page web) and was told the following:
- they had taken £9 from my phone account without my knowledge
- the support line was also a premium rate line
- no they did not know how much it costs. To clarify, their actual words were "I don't know" when I asked how much this "support" call to unsubscribe from something I never subscribed to, would cost.
- The call-centre person said I would be unsubscribed if I gave them my number
- Tip-deck has no management or in fact no person at all to speak to, they could only un-subscribe me
- they could not issue a refund
- they could not tell me when or where they claimed to have subscribed me
- when I asked questions, they started reading from a script very loudly "This is the subscription department and we can only unsubscribe, we don't do anything else" before putting the phone down quickly, when I asked to speak to someone else.

This was very obviously an attempt to hide away and avoid answering any questions.
- when I phoned again I gave my number to unsubscribe, but was quickly cut off after that, as soon as I asked for details of the scam company.

I emailed their amusingly-titled "support" address with the following:

1. You have been charging me for a service I have never heard of, and never subscribed to.
2. This is obviously a scam and I will be taking it up with the relevant authorities.
3. In the meantime, you will pay me back the unauthorised charges you have taken from my account without my permission.
4. My details are below. Feel free to phone me and email me if you have any queries.

Am now waiting to see if they will return the money they took without permission.
:mad::mad:

Customer Support 0203 514 6266

This is a text subscription service to stop future texts send STOP to 64648

They should have sent you a confirmation text to start the service, if you did not receive this or you responded, then you should contact your phone provider.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Further, they have a cancellation policy in the first thirty days and do not charge you in this period. Their first text was free, and contained details on how to cancel the service.

Dave_too

They may have a 30 day cancellation period, but they didn't tell me that.

They may *claim* to send you a free text first with details on how to cancel the service, but I never received one.

Even if they had sent one, why would I reply to some random scammer sending me a text saying I must pay them money, for something I've never heard of?

I've never heard of them and never signed up to anything. The first I heard of it was receiving a text message. The text message did not mention texting STOP, did not include a phone number, and most of all didn't even tell me they were taking money off me.

I found the customer support number on their website, because the text message did have their website URL.

When I phoned that number, the only thing you can do there, is unsubscribe. You can't refuse to pay, ask for a refund, ask when or where they got my details from, can't speak to anyone else, if you ask for anything other than unsubscribe, they just put the phone down on you. But they did unsubscribe me.

I am super-cautious and don't click on links in emails or dodgy sites.

As someone whose work revolves around IT security I am very aware of the risks and never even look at pop-ups or freebies or tempting offers.

Somehow these people got my mobile number, took £9 from it. It's not much I know, but super-annoying that they can just help themselves to my money. I can't let them get away with that.

I repeat:

* no prior texts were sent, only one
* no information was given on how to stop
* no phone number in the text
* I was not even told in the text that they were actually charging money
* I did not sign up for these jokers, I've never even heard of them
* only when I phoned them I discovered they have taken £9 from my mobile credit, no prior warning.

Dave_too

BTW thank you for responding and for the helpful info, this was appreciated,:-)

Dave_too

If you have time on your hands and want a laugh, try phoning their "support" number. It rings for five minutes then cuts out. All the time saying "All our operators are busy at the moment".

Digging deeper
The recorded call and the unsubscribe line both have Irish accents. Sounds like an Irish call centre.
The URL tip-deck <dot com > was registered on 2017-08-22 with GoDaddy.
Their privacy policy page lists their postal address in Cyprus : Μikinon, 15, 4002, Limassol, Cyprus
On Google maps this does not appear to be business premises.
The Full name of legal entity is : Goldeness Ltd

For some reason the owner is a little shy: "Name or title of Data Protection Officer: [Insert name here]"

Looking on the opencorporates website, the company is called "GOLDENESS HOLDINGS LTD" and was incorporated on 9 May 2018 (8 months ago) as a Limited Company in the jurisdiction of Cyprus.

The director and secretary are named as the same person, ("ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΙΔΗΣ") which in english is GEORGIOS KONSTANTINIDIS. The opencorporates site also shows he has a bunch of other companies.

Dave_too

Amazingly I have an email reply from their support:

=========== START OF REPLY =======================
Support Tip Deck
13:41 (7 minutes ago)
to me

Hi .......,

Thank you for your email.

It is likely you arrived on our service after completing an on-line questionnaire survey or prize draw, or did you recently use an on-line comparison site?

We don’t have access to your exact opt-in information here.

We are happy to offer you a refund of £9.00 However, we require your full name and address before we can release the refund cheque to you.

In the meantime, I have ensured your subscription is terminated and you will not be charged any further.

Kind Regards,

Rosa

Customer Support

Telephone: 0203 514 6266

=========== END OF REPLY =======================

Summary:
* No apology,
* No explanation of how they signed me up to take my money.
* They want to post me a cheque! The fees on international cheque clearance (they are based in Cypress) are extremely high.

===== START ANSWER EMAIL ====
Dear tip-deck support,
Posting a cheque is not acceptable. The clearance fees on international cheques are very high.
I will also have to waste even more time getting the cheque to a bank.

You already have my mobile phone number which you took the money from without permission.
Please return the money to my mobile account. You can do this through GiffGaff, even through the GiffGaff website. You do not need my address for this. You already have my name.
yours
....
===== END ANSWER EMAIL ====

MothballsWallet

OP, you may have shot yourself in the foot with your reply email.

PDC

Sounds near identical to these SecretSalesCodes/Comp House stories from a while ago https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40496744 & https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/6035689/help-im-paying-4-50-a-month-to-a-premium-rate-text-service-and-i-dont-know-how-to-stop-it/

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Whenever that goggle sesrch thing pings up you are the luckiest 2,000,000th visitor don’t click!

Stick to the Duck

https://www.duckduckgo.com

Dave_too

I'm always scrupulously sure to never click on any pop-ups, special deals, I even avoid those clickbait articles at the bottom of some pages, like "doctors don't want you to know this amazing trick", or "housewife in <your suburb here> earns £3000 a day with this fantastic scheme!!!"

IT security is my job - which is why I know for certain I have not clicked on anything remotely resembling a subscription service.

Much less on something that promises to charge me £4.50 a text for some kind of motivational message!
What I really don't understand, is how these people can operate.
It's very clear what they are doing, yet they are allowed to continue, day in and day out. And it's not rocket science to block them. Why doesn't the provider block them?

i'm supporting the petition for the change that would see users approving any subscription service. That is a concrete move to fix it.
Although I love GiffGaff, I till feel this is something that could be improved.