Vodafone and its SMS text scammers

Comment by sbiddle, on 10-MAR-2007 12:50

I guess the real question is who at Vodafone is approving such deals and sort of information is required before Vodafone will make the service available. It's obvious in this case Vodafone got scammed.

This is one of the first premium rate SMS's available in NZ where you pay for receiving the SMS not for sending it. As I mention in my blog Vodafone tell you that you will never pay for receiving an SMS - quite clearly they should refunding every customer who has been charged $5.

Comment by mike, on 10-MAR-2007 18:06

Link cut out, 3 Alerts here.

Comment by sbiddle, on 10-MAR-2007 18:23

Why aren't Vodafone enforcing a double opt in system for any SMS marketing company where the receiver has to pay for the SMS delivery? There is a big difference between sending an SMS to a premium rate number and being charged $3 and having to pay $5 for every SMS you receive when you may not have even signed up for the service in the first place since there is no double opt in system in place.

Comment by sbiddle, on 10-MAR-2007 19:05

Thanks for clarifying the double opt in - I was lead to believe that this was not being used for the service in question.

Comment by mike, on 10-MAR-2007 19:52

The "Summary Terms" section at the bottom of the page you enter your mobile seems pretty clear to me.

And if the PIN opt-in text or first welcome text describes the service/costs again I really can't see the problem.

I agree it's a horrible service and ridiculously priced but there is only so much you can do to protect people from themselves.

Comment by sbiddle, on 11-MAR-2007 07:11

"I agree it's a horrible service and ridiculously priced but there is only so much you can do to protect people from themselves. "

I just wonder whether both Vodafone & Telecom can consider themselves to be morally responsible companies by allowing providers such as this to do business over their networks. There is a big difference between offering premium rate SMS's so idiots can pay $1 to TXT in to vote for a competition (say on TV) and letting you network be used for a service that rips off people $5 to be sent a horoscope and then a random name that is apparently their true love.

It's obvious profits get in the way of moral responsibility for both networks.

Comment by ac, on 12-MAR-2007 08:53

I've just been listening to the coverage on this story on National Radio this morning, and recognising a similar story to my own, I am embarrassed to say that I fell for this scam. Stupid huh? I consider myself to be fairly aware of things like this, but there you go. I actually didn't realise this was a New Zealand site, because I followed the link from a .com US webpage (and I don't check the URL of every page I visit). I put in my mobile number, thinking 'well, I haven't put +64 in front, it won't actually send me anything..' and then it sucked $10 out of my account. I spent the next 10 minutes frantically trying to unsubscribe from the service. In my defence I didn't notice the 'summary terms' at the bottom of the page, as I'm on a 12" laptop and the whole page didn't fit on my screen...

I am mortifyingly embarrassed at being so stupid, but I have definitely learnt my lesson and will never be so stupid again!

Comment by Felix Five, on 12-MAR-2007 09:24

sbiddle said...

"I just wonder whether both Vodafone & Telecom can consider themselves to be morally responsible companies..."

Pretty sure neither company considers themselves to be morrally responsible... that would be bad for business.

Comment by steve campbel, on 13-MAR-2007 02:44

i use create-ringtone.com to create and send FREE custom ringtones, wallpaper, mp3 and video files to cell phones around the world

Comment by VinceC, on 3-APR-2007 15:48

2:30pm every second damn day I get an SMS for this thing.. Only it's the AU version.

I finally tracked down the website and right at the bottom, in very small small print it states to SMS 'STOP' to 19900107

I did so, and I got an SMS back almost instantly that I was unsubscribed.. I Guess I'll know 2:30 tomorrow...

Comment by VinceC, on 10-APR-2007 15:07

1 week later and I get another browser horoscope. Obviously the computer used to spam this crap takes long weekends too... *grrr*

Comment by highlander, on 21-MAY-2007 15:25

Hi - help and complaints!

I've recently started receiving SMS horoscopes (for which I have no interest at all) from mobilefone.com. I've been to the website, and searched around - i'm not terribly computer savvy - but I cannot find (even in small print) a number to call or text to make these messages stop.

In my searching I found this blog,

help anyone?

Comment by Highlander, on 22-MAY-2007 23:33

Hi Juha,

I haven't contacted the ACCC. I'm not inclined to make an issue - presumably there is some simple solution to such a problem.

What bothers is that there are people for whom (for lack of finances or nous) are receiving a similar barrage of SMSs - who don't have the requisite dollars or tolerance to be merely put out,

Money-making of this variety seems to me, on the face of it, perverted!

Comment by Rachael, on 5-OCT-2007 16:29

I am having the same problem with the horror (literally!) scopes, it won't cancel. Might be cheaper to turn my phone off! Rachael :(

Comment by Chrissie, on 8-JAN-2008 17:13

Just wondering if anyone knows how to opt out of all of this crap? I stupidly entered in my details to a site to enter a free competition then sent stop to the number on the site straight away, which was 193 200 and now they keep sending me msgs my phone cannot receive, now i keep sketching about my phone bill i dont even know the company or what it is!! Any ideas? damsel_in_dior@hotmail.com if anyone can help me! :)

Comment by Alan Brown, on 7-MAR-2008 22:05

Welcome to the 20th century,

Really.

This happened in europe (and especially the uk) when premium rate SMS was introduced. It was widespread and nasty - people with prepay phones found their credit exhausted overnight with some scammers sending a dozen messages, etc etc etc.

It's been widely reported in the usual UK sites (The Register, TheInquirer, etc, etc) and it's not exactly a new practice.

The question is how the scammers got round Vodafone's rudimentary sanity checks and WHY there isn't a full opt-in setup.

If you think this mob is bad, wait till you see sms.ac in action - they trick people into signing in, then send several texts a day from fake profiles in order to make as much money as possible.

Paul B - Vodafone should be taking a close look at the bona fides of all premium rate players and making sure that scammers with a history in other countrys DON'T get a chance to sign in.

It's just spam in another form, only this time they get to make lots of money per message. Surely that's fraud and can be prosecuted as such?

Comment by Daniel Montes, Jr., on 2-APR-2008 17:29

I have a plan. If Zhenya thinks he is untouchable by committing fraud upon the citizens of the United States, he just messed up. He is in the same catagory as Bin Laden. This is the plan for him for defrauding thousands of US citizens. I will sue him directly in the US. Get a US court judgment. Then file it with the Australian courts for enforcement. Here it goes. If you wish to get on the wagon just send me an email. This is the real thing. And if Zhenya if you happen to get this email to have your attorney call me for a conference, because this is going to be a big one, class action size. Daniel Montes, Jr., 214-708-4007, danielmontesjr@hotmail.com.

Comment by Daniel, on 3-AUG-2008 18:27

840 $0.20 98666 $2.00 Mobile Guru 0508 38 38 38

I copied the above from the list posted above me. So what should I do to get rid of this? It's sending me stupid sex postion stuff, one of my friends was using my phone and stupidly decided to use this and now I don't know how to get them to stop.

Comment by AL, on 22-SEP-2008 20:09

I was quite surprise when I spoke to the vodafone operator tonight about the same issue which others seem to have had. The operator didn't seem to care when she was told about the situation and how I would like it to be stopped or at least suggestions on what can be done. I was only told that I'll need to contact them myself since it involves "3rd Party" (yeah, like if I knew how to contact them I wouldn't have bothered ringing you..THANKS)after hearing what she said, I just didn't want to continue asking for their 'HELP'.

Glad I came across this site, and discovered how to STOP these ridiculous message. (send STOP to 2228).

I am not hoping to receive these messages ever again.

Thanks VODAFONE!

Comment by chris, on 29-DEC-2008 17:53

Got a text message today saying,

"Please be aware that you have incurred $30 of charges for premium shortcode 2228.Lovesoulmate NZ"

I never signed for this (knowingly). I never put my number into anything, competitions, websites etc but the other day I was on facebook someone had invited me to challenge their IQ Test score. I thought,why not, it'll be a bit of fun. I completed the test, but in order to get my test score I had to give them my cellphone number. I didnt really think too much of it so I put in my number and received a text immediately. No where did it say I was subscribing to any sort of service and I must say I was quite puzzled when I started receiving texts containing random trivia.

Then, today when I received the text re. the charges I had incurred I immediately googled "lovesoulmate" to find out what I had been unknowingly subscibed to. Consequently I have text STOP to 2228 and am crossing my fingers that I dont get any more messages.

If anyone manages to get a refund, please let us all know how.Thanks

Chris

Comment by Megan, on 19-FEB-2009 14:33

Glad I found this page! Vodafone have most certainly not been any help! I too have been getting these $5.00 rechargable texts when we have NEVER signed up to anything (it is actually my 8yr old daughters phone which she only got just under a month ago, and I know for a fact she hasn't been on any websites or txt anything).. As we had deleted the actual txts (I didn't realise they were costing us money until suddenly the $15 on there had all gone!), I tried to ask Vodafone who was trying to txt the phone (kept getting one from Vodafone saying there wasn't enough credit to receive it) - They told me they weren't able to see who had txt it (yeah right) and that the only way I could was to top up to receive one.. Got the $5.00 IOU and ended up getting one (taking all that $5.00!) from 98434.. Like others, I KNOW FOR A FACT me or my daughter have not entered her cell phone number anywhere and what is to stop people just entering random numbers!! What a fricken scam! This should NOT be allowed!!

Comment by Paul Brislen, on 19-FEB-2009 19:14

hi there, here's the lowdown on Premium TXT.

In order to sign up for the service you send a TXT to a short code (1234) OR go to a website (eg Facebook) and use an application there.

A TXT is sent to your phone and you must reply to this TXT to activate the service.

You'll then receive a TXT that includes: contact number for the service, a price for the service and how to stop the service (typically TXT the word STOP back to the originating short code, although there are a couple of services that have use a different code for the termination of the service: we're looking into that).

Without that process you can not get signed up to the service. It's very hard to get signed up by mistake and in the two years I've been with Vodafone I've only encountered one person who was signed up outside this process - he'd just bought a new SIM and the number was re-assigned from someone else. For some reason the previous user's services had not been cleaned off the number so he was getting TXTs that he hadn't signed up for. Megan, it's possible (and I only say possible) that could be the case here.

That's one person in all that time. Every single other person who has complained that they didn't sign up eventually realises that either a: yes they did or b: someone else did for them (My brother's cousin's young sister did have my mobile that day... I wonder... etc).

What can you do if you're signed up and don't want to continue receiving these TXTs? Send the word STOP to the sending number (should work in almost all cases - as I say there are a couple of services that don't and we're addressing that).

If you want to argue the toss about the original singing up, ring 777 and tell them you want to know the contact details for whoever runs your particular service (in your case Megan that's 98434). The CSR will look up that number and give you the contact details for the provider.

Vodafone CAN NOT REFUND YOUR MONEY. I'll say it again: VODAFONE CAN NOT REFUND YOUR MONEY.

You need to speak to the provider of the service.

If you don't get satisfaction with the provider (eg they don't answer the phone, refuse to refund when you think you've got a case, whatever) then call 777 again and tell them you want to escalate the problem to the Premium TXT team. Make it a formal complaint. Get a complaint number. Ring back and ask for a status update. Be the squeaky wheel.

The Premium team take it very seriously if a provider isn't living up to their part of the deal.

If any of you have a formal complaint to make about a Premium TXT service (I'm looking at your comment above, Chris) then I would strongly urge you to ring in, make a formal complaint and follow the process. Suggesting you need to put in your number for one purpose and then hitting you up with another service is a no-no in my book and I'd like to see that stamped out.

As I say those are the exceptions - the vast majority of users have signed up or have had someone do it on their phone. This is a nasty trick but I don't know quite how we stop that.

Hope that helps, if there are any more questions, post them here and Juha can let me know and I'll come and answer them if I can.

cheers

Paul Brislen
Vodafone External Communications Manager

Comment by Karen, on 23-APR-2009 15:32

just been receiving these on a brand new phone, new number for me ... have never signed up for them - bogus horoscopes - from 4212. just got a text from 4612 to tell me i have been charged for $30 of mobile content.

this sucks big time!!! I have certainly not been through any process like Paul B describes above, and have not confirmed any of these by reply.

Do i assume that they belong to the previous holder of this number?

Who takes responsibility for this? (something i really really didn't need today!)

Comment by omid, on 1-MAY-2009 15:56

Hi I was also scammed today, a random popup unsolicited window with 5 questions "intelligence test", when you answer asks for the mobile phone to txt you the results, when you enter it says a pin is going to be sent and once the pin is entered bang, they send you then (after all that not before) that $7 signup fee (when nobody told you you were signing up for anything) and $3.5 per text.

Of course you can stop the service you never asked for but you lost your $7+$3.5 before having a chance of doing so. This is clearly against Consumer act and fair trade act, and Vodafone has an obligation to stop these scammers.

The provider "mbill content services" which is refered to as 2012 $0.20 98797 $3.50 mBill's Daily Jokes, Horoscopes, Live SMS Chat 0800 630 114 in the above table posted by somebody is the one.

I will forward a formal complaint to Vodafone and if nothing comes through to the Consumer Organisation, once they publish the case, then Vodafone will be more responsive to not allowing these scammers use a prestigious company like Vodafone as a vehicle for the Scamming. Cheers.

Comment by Paul, on 21-MAY-2009 21:22

After receiving 3 unsolicited and charged for ($3 ea) text messages from code 98720 ("Dreams Come True" 0800 767 565) in the last 2 days i searched and found this blog. Replying to the code with "stop" got nothing but a failure message back.

I emailed Vodafone and have called the 0800 number from the list on their website.

The girl on the phone said she has turned the messages off - we'll see. I asked how they received my number and she was adamant the only way was for me to have texted them on their code (98720). I live alone and am the only user of my phone. I looked back over all sent texts to January and find nothing to indicate I've ever texted that number. I also asked about the "double opt in" - she said all that is required is a single text, no other authorisation.

Seems this is totally at odds with Paul Brislen's version of events. Maybe Vodafone needs to clarify this?

Comment by Emma, on 5-JUN-2009 14:56

Same story here. I somehow got subscribed to some sort of "Funbox.com" service, three messages a week at $5 per message. I NEVER signed up for this. I am incredibly careful about giving out my phone number and would NEVER give it to a website. I also loathe text message gimmicks.

Vodafone told me I must've given out my number on a website somewhere. No, Vodafone. Your service sucks. You need to do something about it.

Comment by Joao Martins, on 21-JUN-2009 15:15

As many people here I haven't never sign up for anything.. Never Reply any text and I was charged for TXT I did not want.

That's what I did.

777 BAL and got my balance. I them Send I text to 2212 STOP and received a message back that All My Subscriptions Have Been Cancelled (By the way, I have never Subscribed to anything). In less than 10 Min I received a message from 98716 with a bullshit text, something about taking my girlfriend to the park on a carriage... I them check My Balance again and guess what?? 3.50 Out of my account?

How come? If I have just received a message saying All my subscription (which as I said I never Subscribed to them) ??

I guess what I will do and wait another day, if it doesn't stop them I will have to change my SIM card... Because as I can see from this forum Vodafone does not give a shit about... I am sure they do get part of that money anyway... Isn't it Paul B?

Comment by Quentin McDonald, on 15-OCT-2009 09:23

Another example of apparent abuse of the premium text service. I recently got a Vodem Stick I use only on my Mac and therefore it has no ability to send or receive SMS messages. I noticed my pre-pay balance was declining so called Vodafone ($1). They told me it due to premium texts from "Mobile Guru", gave me the website (uninformative) and an 0800 number (no response - doesn't ring). There is no way I could have subscribed to this service, it has to be a scam. I'm waiting for the Vodafone supervisor to call me back...

Comment by Quentin McDonald, on 15-OCT-2009 09:35

Thanks Juha. Yes I know in theory the Vodem Stick can send and receieve SMS. But it's not supported on MacOS and that's what I use. Quoting directly from http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile-broadband/choose-a-device.jsp:

"* SMS is currently only supported on computers running Microsoft Windows"

That's annoying in its own way, but a blessing in this case.


Quentin

Comment by Quentin McDonald, on 15-OCT-2009 09:48

Yes, so in my mind that proves I could not have subscribed even if technically the device can send and receive SMS.

The helpdesk suggested I put the sim card in a vodafone handset. Don't have one unfortunately. They then suggested I take it to a Vodafone store. That's a last resort as far as I'm concerned. Why should I have to when I clearly could not have subscribed to this service? "Unsubscribing" in this case appears to me to be tantamount to admitting I "subscribed" in the first place. I want Vodafone to deal with it as I suspect they've supplied me with a recycled number that already had this "service" activated.

Comment by Paul Brislen, on 15-OCT-2009 10:02

Quentin McDonald, can you email me some details... that strikes me as something the Premium team need to deal with immediately.

cheers

Paul
Vodafone external communications manager
paul.brislen@vodafone.com

Comment by Quentin McDonald, on 15-OCT-2009 14:00

I have (hopefully) a resolution to the Vodem/Mobile Guru subscription issue. A helpdesk supervisor called me back and I described the situation. Eventually she realized that I had never sent an SMS from my number and could not have subscribed. She refunded the charges and the cost of the support calls. I consider that good service and I'm pleased with Vodafone for dealing with this relatively quickly. I did have to find a Windows machine to send an SMS in order to unsubscribe which was a hassle, but hopefully will stop the issue for good.

Apparently the subscriber was the previous owner of the number. That's somewhat of a concern, what happens if a child gets a new cellphone with a pre-subscribed service sending inappropriate material?

Thanks Paul for your prompt offer to help and Juha for your comments.

Comment by Michael, on 27-OCT-2009 12:50

I think I got this before I gave my cellphone number online to a website that predicts how long you'll live, stupid I know. They sent me a text on saturday saying it's $9 per week or month, but didn't read it carefully before deleting it. I didn't get charged because I didn't have enough credit. But I'm worried now I will get charged if I haven't stopped it properly as now I have more than $9 credit.