A salutary tale for unwitting mobile phone users
I'm not one to usually get burned on net, as I am normally quite wary, so I thought I better let you all know about this one as it's particularly crafty.
Somehow I unwittingly entered a competition, probably on the internet or via email, as must have been asked for my mobile phone number, which I must have given.
Mistake number one: Never give out your mobile number online – it just opens you up for abuse.
I reportedly received a text which stated I would be charged £5 per week and I replied to "Yes"
Mistake number two: If I did respond, it must not have made this clear. I never would have agreed to this.
I have an O2 account, which I spotted these payments over the last four months. I of course called them and they conveneiently will wash their hands of any responsiblity even though they take the money.
O2's Advice
Text back to 85015 "STOP ALL" in capitals.
Call
Phonepay Plus who regulate these matters on
0800 500212. You can report this as you see fit.
Visit Phone Pay Plus.
The Company responsible for these rip off texts are:
Emexus or 2waytraffic and you can call them on: 0203 0262817
Give them a call to their customer services department got me no joy. They are so adept at batting off any complaints you can see their business model in full transparency – it relys on this.
They are not interested in repeat business or customer satisfaction – who would when they are tricking people into paying £4.25 / text received.
Just Google Emexus to read more about this company.
The company is a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company. Funnily the video uses the word "Exploiting" in the video. Enough said!
Info from Phone Pay Plus website
PhonepayPlus has the following information about the shortcode number 85015.
This is a text message service charged at premium rate. The types of services operating on this number can be ring tones, jokes, games tarot, chat, mobile internet services (WAP) and more.
- This service costs £5.00 per week
If you would like to find out more about this service you should contact the company listed below.
2waytraffic mobile group
Middenweg 1, 1217 HS Hilversum
P.O.Box 297,
1200 AG Hilversum
The Netherlands
0203 0262 817
na@smscustomercare.com
If you want to log a complaint to PhonepayPlus online please click here.
Alternatively, you can call our helpline on 0800 500 212 (Mon-Fri, 0800-1800).
To cancel a subscribtion service (services that charge a regular fee - for example £5 per week) you simply need to send a text with the words "STOP ALL" to the shortcode number.
You can
check a Text number here.Please feel free to comment if you have had something similar happen to you.
Labels: 85015 text, scams, text scams