Phone text scam

[robin2204]

My wife's sister has been caught by a phone text scam. She's on Vodaphone, and has ended up with a couple of monthly bills close to £300 (her normal was about £50-60).

She got a text from someone, like it was a personal message, but as if it had been sent to the wrong number - something like 'Are u coming round tonight mary. Joan' Not being mary and not knowing joan she texted back, that they had the wrong no. She kept receiving more texts, with the person at the other end apologising, etc, anything to keep it going, she now realises. It of course turned out to be a premium rate number, though it didn't show that anywhere at the time.

What can be done - Vodaphone want their money, threatening debt collection, etc - what can she do ?

[buzby]

The only recourse is to ICSTIS the premium rate watchdog. Irrespective of the sending and receipt of premium texts, the phone owner remains responsible for them, VodaFone will not enter into the dispute.

This scam is common - it may be possible to ask the network to BLOCK ALL inbound premium texts, which can be done if you push them hard enough.