Spam Texts costing £1.50 (merged threads)

pcyam

Not sure if its been posted up before or even if anyone else has been successful. But few years ago, I started receiving text messages which costed £1.50 each time which I never subscribed to or even heard of the company, it was allsorts (football, music and dating texts). But I managed to get all my money back.

If my memory serves me correctly, first thing I did was text STOP a few times and it never worked, and then I think I contacted my network provider by email (o2) and they gave me some details of the company and telephone number and I contacted them directly, complaining that I never signed up and I quoted them a rough amount which it had cost me (and a bit more) and they said they would send me a cheque back, I wasnt really sure if they would, the main thing was I was taken off their list, but to my surprise I got a cheque and it never bounced.

HTH

wantmemoney

Here's my story for what it's worth. It may throw some light on whats going on and who is really responsible for these THEFTS.
I realise my case is slightly different but please bare with me.
In 2004 I got three 0909967**** premium rate numbers on my BT bill.
Icstis were useless, Ofcom and the police did not want to know.
BT claimed and maintained the numbers were dialed from my computer, I had to pay the bill.
I decided to investigate. This is what I found:
My numbers were part of 3,000 Telecom One prn's that had been supplied to a group of "companies" in Majorca.
All the companies shared the same addresses and contact details and had been set up by the same group of business men. All 3,000 prn's had been continually complained about and had been under Icstis "investigation" from 1st Jan 2004 onwards. Icstis had been recieving several tens of thousand of complialnts concerning the numbers. The numbers appeared on my bill in Augs 2004!
I sent my findings to the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4397308.stm
Throughout 2004 Icstis claimed the services BT were billing for appeared to be "compliant".
I recently obtained the identities of the Telecom One "services providers" mentioned in this Ofcom case.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_index/comp_bull_ccases/closed_all/cw_833/
The "service providers" are the Majorcan sevice providers responsible for the fraud in the BBC program. It was opened because Telecom One had refused to give Ictis details of the promotion and content the service providers were marketing.
The Ofcom case was opened May 2005. It is now clear that throughout 2004 Icstis had lied to the public to protect the industry. Icstis and BT had no evidence or reason to believe the services were being marketed legally or infact even existed.
If you continue to bill for a service you know or even suspect is fraudlent that is a serious criminal offence.
The Danish busines man mentioned in the program was a director at Telecom One in 1997. In 2006 he was convicted in Hamburg for an almost identical telecom fraud that he had targeted at tens of thousands of German families.
And yes the matter is not closed.

skintlass

I've just discovered that I've been charged for receiving texts from a service I didn't subscribe to. I'm so annoyed - I had seen texts coming in giving a link to click on for what to do in London but I never clicked the link (I live in Leeds). Just looked at my latest bill and rang Orange to query charges and they said thats a subscription number for several services. The number is 80122 - over the past few months they've ripped me off for probably around £20 t0 £40 - sooooo annoyed. Rang the cust service line and when they're supposed to give me a number to ring on the automated response the phone goes dead. I have put my moby number into the "unsubscribe from all our services" bit of the automated response but want to know how all this started - grrrrr. Anyone else been afflicted by this? :mad: :mad: :mad:

Davey_s2

It amazes me that these companies are allowed to do this. I would be tempted to stop the dd on my mobile phone, and pay only the part of your bill related to your calls, and not pay for the spam texts, not sure how legal it is though. I feel that your mobile supplier has a duty of care and why should you be expected to pay for unwanted and unrequested services like this is ridiculous. Go to watchdog?

Davey_s2

just thought- could you find the address of the company and raise a small claim for the money paid, plus costs? I hear it is quite easy to do, although I have never done it myself.

duh

I think the only way to stop receiving anymore of these texts is to send an sms back stating STOP ALL+the number you are getting it from.
You/someone else may have signed up to a free trial on a website e.g ringtones etc...
I got hit by a similar thing for about a week after someone added my number on to a website for free worldwide sms's. Complaint to the regulator followed..yet to hear from them.

skintlass

I was told about the stopall thingy by Orange but after ringing the customer care line and unsubscribing I did get a text (which I hope is free) back saying I am unsubscribed from all their services. I think it would be illegal to not pay the charges (anyway the money has already been paid as it goes out by DD). Am annoyed at myself for not noticing it earlier. The cust service girl at orange told me that MMS was subscription services texts - I said I thought it was sending photos etc thru texts (whish is what it is btw I checked) so she's obviously well clued up on the technology she's dealing with

rash.m2k

Text STOP to the number back. i think this is the universal command for these kinds of services.

chuckles1066

skintlass wrote:

I've just discovered that I've been charged for receiving texts from a service I didn't subscribe to. I'm so annoyed - I had seen texts coming in giving a link to click on for what to do in London but I never clicked the link (I live in Leeds). Just looked at my latest bill and rang Orange to query charges and they said thats a subscription number for several services. The number is 80122 - over the past few months they've ripped me off for probably around £20 t0 £40 - sooooo annoyed. Rang the cust service line and when they're supposed to give me a number to ring on the automated response the phone goes dead. I have put my moby number into the "unsubscribe from all our services" bit of the automated response but want to know how all this started - grrrrr. Anyone else been afflicted by this? :mad: :mad: :mad:

From ICSTIS:

This is what we know about the number you entered (80122).

We have the following information about this number.
This is a text message service charged at premium rate. Content ranges from ringtones, jokes, games, tarot, chat and more. Call the content provider shown below for more details. This service costs will vary depending on the service that you subscribed to.
To unsubscribe from any reverse-billed service you simply need to send the word STOP to the short code number or STOP ALL if you are using two or more services from the same short code. Click the following link for further information about premium rate text messages. 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.

Zamano Ltd
0871 277 9988
cs@zamano.com
The Bridge
12-16 Clerkenwell Road
London
EC1M 5PQ

Baileyk

Over the last few months I have been receiving texts from 82070 to my mobile advising me of ways to ..wait for it....'save money!!!
Each text begins with ' Save money for your wedding by...' then continuing with tips. None of which would take a rocket scientist to think of!

I never subscribed for these texts and what really gets me is the cost of each text - £1.28. Last month alone I had an extra £16 added to my monthly bill purely from these texts I keep receiving.
I have tried to send messages back to the same 82070 saying ' unsubscribe' & 'stop' but still I remain on their hit list!

I went to orange who advised me that it is Opra Telecom sending these texts & they gave me a 0871 872 9899 number to call.
I tried to call this number but to speak to anyone is tough as I work my way through the options eventually the line rings a dead tone!

What am I to do! I cant afford to keep making these unwanted payments !
Should I request compensation from Orange or Opra Telecom? and if so how should I go about it???