Mobile phone and text message scam. EVERYBODY WITH A MOBILE PHONE PLEASE READ THIS!!!

[seylectric]

There are a couple of mobile phone scams that have been doing the rounds for a while now, but are still very successful.

 

The first one is you receive a call from a number beginning with "070". It looks like a mobile phone number, but it isn't. Your phone will typically ring once then hang up. The idea is that you ring the caller back but if you do it will cost you upwards of £1.50 a minute. You may get these on your landline too. DO NOT RING THE NUMBER BACK.

 

The second [problem] is when you receive a text message offering a brand new mobile contract or something similar. You might get 3 or 4 of these messages in a short space of time. the idea is you get fed up of receiveing them, so the text will say "To stop recievng these offers text "STOP" to 87654" (hypothetical example). DON'T REPLY. If you do, again it will cost you upwards of £1.50 - and it won't stop them coming.

 

In both cases report it to ofcom.

 

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

[Switch]

I had one of these type of scams last week.

 

I had won a free phone select collect to claim the phone.

 

Stupid me selected collect next thing texts were coming with questions to a quiz and at the cost to me of 1.50 a time.

 

On a PAYG and slowly but surely my credit went down. The tow rags left me with 19 pence, I was not too happy.

 

Did some investigating as I saw this as basicly theft, turned out to be a UK based company called SMS Digital Future.

 

Called them and I had to go through the well you signed up for quiz sir (Like Hell I did) after there spill from a script sheet I just ripped into them, cheque with a full refund received 4 days later.

 

If you get scammed by one of these texting rip offs with a little determination you can get your money back.

[natalie]

Can I just say there is another one that is much more expensive, again a call comes to your mobile/home, recorded message saying you have been selected to win a holiday, press 9, if you do then you are charged £20 a minute I'm not sure exactly how it works but my friend's elderly relative was caught out on it, thought something was wrong with the line when nothing happened so waited and ended up with with an astronomical phone bill of several hundred pounds. I know it was on Watchdog a while ago but looks as though it has resurfaced.

[seylectric]

Good post, that one is definately still around too.

[Phil3822]

Good post,

 

Natalie, my grandfather was caught on that holiday phone [problem]. Very similar story to yours. Shame!

[countydurham00001]

I got a call yesterday, same kind of thing as what is described. My mobile rang once and hung up, I did not ring back to find out who it was, if its that important, they will call me back, anyway here is the number !!!!

 

0709 9814898

[Rich44]

I dont see how that £20/min phone line [problem] involving pressing 9 works considering the upper limit ICSTIS put on 090 calls is £1.50

 

From ICSTIS

 

(United Kingdom) January 24th, 2005 -- Over the last few days, ICSTIS has received dozens of enquiries about the above 'scams', which are being widely publicised by e-mail. To help us put an end to the current spate of enquiries, please pass this information on to all contacts. In the first case, the apparent 'deception' takes place when people receive a recorded message informing them that they have won an all-expenses paid holiday and are asked to press 9 to hear further details. It is then claimed that callers are connected to a £20.00 per minute premium rate line that will still charge them for a minimum of five minutes even if they disconnect immediately. It is also claimed that, if callers stay connected, the entire message costs £260.00.

 

In the second case, the apparent 'deception' takes place when people receive a missed call from a number beginning 0709. It is then claimed that, if callers dial this number, they are connected to a £50.00 per minute premium rate line.

 

Please note that these stories are NOT true!

 

£20.00 per minute and £50.00 per minute premium rate tariffs do not exist - the highest premium rate tariff available is £1.50 per minute. Despite the dozens of enquiries received by ICSTIS about these 'scams' (and most people appear to have heard about them second or third-hand), not one person who claims that it has actually happened to them has been able to produce a phone bill to support their story.

 

ICSTIS urges any individual or organisation that receives an e-mail about these 'scams' to delete it immediately. Please do NOT forward it to others.

[seylectric]

There may no longer be £20 a minute scams (but believe me there once were) but there are plenty of companies out there who are still making a fortune one way or another.

 

Another favourite [problem] is SMS Shortcodes - text messages asking you to send a message to, for example, 67890, like the ones you see on TV asking you to send in a competition entry. These can cost up to £2.50 per message.

 

These are often exploited by those companies who put free scratchcards in junk maiol and so on. They ask you to text in for your winning code, but then send up to ten text messages back. It is the INCOMING texts that you pay for whether you read them or not (It's called reverse SMS billing), so NEVER reply to these texts. The system is fully automated, the companies just sit back and watch the money flowing into the bank!

[Guest Lueeze]

i got one, it was 07028759338, my partner called it back!

 

 

Grrr [problematic]!!!!

[sequenci]

all 070 numbers are personal numbers, so it's time to ignore all calls and texts with this prefix!

[Rich44]

070 numbers are not charged at premium rates per se theyre typically charged at about 40p peak and about 12p off peak but no reason to call them at all.

 

As for the £20 per min there may well have been but every single instance ive come across has been the same old spam recirculated stuff it has to start somewhere but most of it is total rubbish (hence the icstis announcements).

 

Pressing 9 cannot leave you to get charges according to both BT and ICSTIS all it does is run you through their call management system and seeing as theyre calling you it cant charge they typically then use hard sell to convince you you've won a free holiday then attempt to fleece as much cash out of you as possible

 

The short message codes are a real pain though and very much real theyre a menace and should be banned theyre as good as unregulated and it seems anyone can send you a message and bill you £1.50 and then its down to you to prove you didnt subscribe.

 

On the plus side Bulldog have blocked all 090 number access by default on all their lines now unless you put a £50 deposit down first so very handy to stop kids etc, shame BT charge for the luxury

[delorean]

I assume it's these people?

 

http://www.smsdigitalfuture.co.uk/

 

There's contact info there for those who might need it.

[seylectric]

No, they're just the service provider. There are dozens, probably hundreds of them in the UK alone. Tens of thousands in the USA. It's their customers, the clients that are using and abusing the service that are the theives.

 

For example, BT may supply your broadband service but it's you who decide how you use the internet. You can't blame BT if you use the broadband service they have supplied you with to download, for example, illegal music or video.

 

Likewise with the SMS services, these companies just provide the service but there is little control over how it is used. The easy solution would be simply to make these premium rate services illegal but that's never going to happen.

 

ALWAYS report these scams to Ofcom, they are legally obliged to investigate and take these things very seriously but if they don't know about them they can't stop them.

[sazz]

Am I right though in believing you can only report them if they are based in the UK?

 

A telephone number 0778148513 keeps texting me. It belongs to 0778148513.com (Hostworld Ltd), which provides 'free' texts and other c**p, even though it charges you £1.50!!! They are based in Hong Kong so how would you go about reporting them?

[seylectric]

Contact Ofcom in the first instance, the chances are they will have to go through a UK service provider at some point and it's the service provider who can stop it and also be held responsible.

 

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

[thunderpuss2k]

Contact Ofcom in the first instance, the chances are they will have to go through a UK service provider at some point and it's the service provider who can stop it and also be held responsible.

 

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

 

If it's 0778148xxxx (you're missing a number on the original post), it's C&W Guernsey. Let me know what the full number is and I'll drop C&W a mail.

[sazz]

07781485153

[thunderpuss2k]

07781485153

 

Ta, will drop an email now..

[sazz]

Thanking you very muchly

 

I had a wee shifty on Google For C&W Gurnsey and there's a forum called 'This is Gurnsey' and it's full of complaints about Cable & Wireless! The Marketing Manager has been trying to answer some of them but looks like he's kinda failing miserably!!

 

AHA HAHAHAHA!!!

[buzby]

I've just noticed this old thread, and whilst I'm sure the respondents meant well, much of the information contained therein was completely inaccurate, there has NEVER been any method of charging a mobile of fixed phone £20 per minute, Complaints about pricey content is handled by ICSTIS, not OFTEL, and that numbers commencing 070 are so-called Personal numbering ranges and are not premium or mobile numbers.

 

It is also worth remembering that spoof SMS messages can be sent to mobiles with fake return numbers, or indeed NO originating number. Each network has its own SMS Spam department which you can forward the messages you receive (for free) so they can investigate. Current advice is to forward and delete.

[thunderpuss2k]

You can also forward sms spams/scams to 07TEXT 0SPAM (078398 07726), their website is at 07text0spam.com - Don't can it, zero spam it!.

[buzby]

Although it is only fair to point out normal SMS charges apply - the number provided by the network operator are free of charge.

[seylectric]

I've just noticed this old thread, and whilst I'm sure the respondents meant well, much of the information contained therein was completely inaccurate, there has NEVER been any method of charging a mobile of fixed phone £20 per minute, Complaints about pricey content is handled by ICSTIS, not OFTEL, and that numbers commencing 070 are so-called Personal numbering ranges and are not premium or mobile numbers.

 

It is also worth remembering that spoof SMS messages can be sent to mobiles with fake return numbers, or indeed NO originating number. Each network has its own SMS Spam department which you can forward the messages you receive (for free) so they can investigate. Current advice is to forward and delete.

 

Sorry but it's your post that's misleading. In the very early days there were Premium rate numbers around that charged upwards of £5 a minute before the cap was put on it. Premium rate text message services can still cost £3 per incoming text, possibly more.

 

I actually complained to O2 about such a [problem] not that long ago, with one of those free scratchcards you get in junk mail and even popular TV listings magazines and so on. It asked to text in for your winning number. O2 said that there was not much they could do unless I actually had sent in the text and been charged but agreed to a refund if I tried it. I did and got SIXTEEN texts back at at cost of £3 each - a total of £48 in the space of a couple of minutes. Not an 090 number admittedly but the same thing.

 

As for 070 numbers I CANNOT EMPHASISE ENOUGH THAT THESE ARE NOT CHARGED AT STANDARD RATES!!! They may call them "Personal" numbers (but who cares what they're called?) but they are charged at much higher rates than normal calls and more importantly they LOOK like mobile numbers thus duping people into believing they can phone them as part of their inclusve minutes - not so.

 

Take this excerpt from Inweb Networks, one of the hundreds of service providers out there:

"How much will an 0700 number cost me?

Setting up an 0700 number is free, the caller will be charged 37.5ppm daytime, 25ppm evening and 12.5ppm weekend for dialling an 070063 number."

 

That's just one example but costs vary and may be much higher. You will find that if you look at service provider's websites they are often very cagey about 0700 number call charges, in many cases they are not given at all.

 

As for complaning, ICSTIS is merely an offshoot of Oftel and ther Oftel site is a good starting place for your complaint (ICSTIS can be accessed from the Oftel site). Furthermore, because 0700 numbers are not classed as premium rate numbers it is Ofcom and not ICSTIS that monitor 0700 numbers and charges - don't take my word for it, phone them and ask them!

 

Ofcom: 0845 456 3000 (local rate from your landline, may be chargeable from your mobile, if calling from your mobile using your inclusive minutes use 020 7981 3040 instead)

ICSTIS: 0800 500212 (free from a landline)

[seylectric]

I just phoned O2 to get the cost of phoning an 0700 number from my contract mobile.......75p per minute!

[thunderpuss2k]

Just to pick up on something.. ICSTIS is not an offshoot of OFTEL (or OFCOM for that matter), it's an independent organisation funded by the telecoms industry.