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Help after being Scammed

SMMOOOOO16
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Good Afternoon

 

Just thought I would share this with the community for awareness and maybe a potential solution as well.

Yesterday evening I was browsing the internet on my mobile and whilst browsing I was directed towards a pornographic website which appeared in a new window. The website prevented me from closing the page easily and several minutes later I received the following text message informing me I had been charged £18:00.

 

*********

 

I didn’t pay much attention to the text since I thought it was just a scam but this morning I checked my account and I had been charged £18.00 to which I must say I was a little surprised by and am still struggling to understand how simply by visiting a website unintentionally I could be charged £18.00!

 

I carried out a bit of research prior to calling customer services and found that this appears to be a scam, I have included a link below which provides some information

 

http://www.smswatchdog.com/text-message-from/02035405930?l

 

Having had a look into this I called through to O2 customer services I was speaking with Jade, after explaining the issue and my concerns she promptly hung up on me! Not a great start!

 

I subsequently called back and spoke to another member of the O2 customer services team and explained what happened. He advised me that there was nothing O2 could do in terms of the charges that had been made and I would need to contact the retailer directly to request a refund.

 

I then questioned him about what I could do to prevent my mobile from being charged further, he stated that the only options were that I be more careful with my browsing in future or alternatively I change my mobile number.

 

Given I didn’t intentionally browse to this site and changing my mobile number really would be a last resort, I have had my current number for over 10 years and use it for business I asked what preventative measures were in place to prevent customers from being exploited against known scams such as this.

 

I asked if scams such as this are known does O2 not query such transactions? the answer was no.

Is O2 able to put a block on my account preventing charges of this nature? the answer is no.

 

I find it quite unbelievable that there are no preventative measures in place to protect people from being charged in this way.

 

I compare the situation to me having a credit card, if there is any unusual activity on that credit card or if it looks as if it is being used for a known scam the credit card company will take preventative action to prevent the consumer from being exploited.

 

Currently I feel exceptionally vulnerable, I have been a victim of a scam, O2's advice is to contact the vendor/scammer directly to try to obtain a refund which I have attempted but as expected the phone number provided in the text message simply goes to an answerphone.

 

O2 is also stating that they do not have the ability to stop any further payments from this vendor which in all fairness I find astonishing and extremely concerning, potentially I could be liable for tens or hundreds of pounds worth of charges which I simply can do nothing about!

 

So is there a technical solution to prevent something like this happening in the future since O2 cant do anything to help me and reassure me, I’m still confused how going to a website they can obtain my phone number for instance, if I had Caller ID set to withhold would this prevent this?

 

Thanks

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Anonymous
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That does seem very weird although I'm sure phonepayplus would know about it if it's happening to many people they should be able to sort it
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SMMOOOOO16
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Ok final update for today before i go and grab a much needed beer!

 

Just been on the phone again to customer services, spoke to a really helpful lady who put forward a suggestion to place an age restriction on my account which will prevent me from accessing any 18+ rated sites.

 

This should hopefully eliminate me being mis directed to any dodgy sites in the future and subsequent charges.

 

The lady was also able to review my data usage over the last 24 hours and given that it was only 736KB it certainly doesnt corelate with having watched 5 videos which is what was being suggested, I'll let Dace know if she ever returns my call!

 

As a gesture of goodwill the lady has also refunded £10 to my account to which i am grateful for but this experience has really opened my eyes today.

 

This is really a huge potential problem just ripe and ready for exploitation. Having looked into this today it would be so simple to setup a website and use the impulsepay.com services to provide one click payment, leaving you without a leg to stand on. Can you imagine setting up such a site with say a £100 per click, steer a bit of traffic to that site and kerching your cashing in, these people must be making a fortune.

 

I'll let you know how i get on with dealing with the company and also phonepayplus but this has now got me really curious about how this all works.

 

There has to be something at a technical level that the user can do to prevent there number being auto-detected for instance when they hit one of these sites ensuring you get prompted to enter information. There must be some tech gurus out there with the answer slight_smile

 

Message 22 of 60
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Anonymous
Not applicable
Security software and ad blockers can assist.

These sites / links like you say are subtle and clever.

As lease O2 have gone some way to assist you. slight_smile
Message 23 of 60
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Anonymous
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Good to hear you got a partial refund it's better than nothing but keep going with phonepayplus
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Anonymous
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Yesterday, I had the exact same thing happen to me, and got stung £24 for four videos that I did not watch, which had been added to my account today.

 

I've just come off the phone to O2 CS, who said that I would need to take the charge up with the provider (which I sort of expected).

 

When I asked if they could do anything to stop this sort of thing happening again, he offered to put a 'direct to bill debit' bar on my account.  That sounded good, so I asked him to make it so.

 

I've also left a message on Switchfire's answering service.  Something which I am going to do several times a day until they call me back.

Next stop, the ridiculously named PhonpayPlus to make a complaint there.

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Anonymous
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Hi

I hope this pans out ok for you.

Phonepayplus may be able to assist.

I've not heard of the service from O2 called "direct to bill debit bar" !

Has anyone else ?

@Toby ~ @Anonymous have you ?
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jonsie
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It's so easy to fall prey to these types of devious companies. Please let us know how you get on. Getting the charges stopped is easy enough but getting money back can be very difficult.

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SMMOOOOO16
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Hi

Just to let you all know I didnt receive much assist from Phonepayplus there response was;

 

"Having considered all the facts and after thoroughly reviewing the evidence submitted PhonepayPlus, in line with the rules and regulations set out by us, does not have sufficient evidence of non-compliance at this time. It is therefore our decision that no further action will be taken at this stage and our investigation be brought to a close"

 

I have also not received any response from Switchfire despite leaving several messages on there answer phone.

 

I have however had some great help from the O2 complaints department, they have called me and as mentioned on the previous post they have placed the "direct to bill debit bar" on my account and have also raised a request on my behalf with Switchfire to ensure they place a block on my number preventing them from being able to charge me in the future.


In addtion they have also raised a dispute with the company on my behalf around the charges so I will have to see how this pans out.

 

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jonsie
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I'm happy that O2 are giving you some assistance. Good luck in your search for restitution from these people.

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Anonymous
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I've tried several times to contact someone at Switchfire, but each time end up and the same dead-end - a recorder message asking me to leave my details and some will ring me back.

 

I'm down London next week - I might pay their office a visit in person!

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