topic Re: Help after being Scammed in Pay Monthly

Help after being Scammed

SMMOOOOO16 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:34:14 GMT

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

Re: Help after being Scammed

MI5 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:26:12 GMT

Unfortunately it's not uncommon.
You need to contact phonepayplus and report it. They will assist in the refund too.

Re: Help after being Scammed

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:40:31 GMT

That's aweful.

I've asked for the links inserted to be looked at.

Good luck in getting any monies back.

Edit ; added good Luck wish.

Re: Help after being Scammed

Toby — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:37:01 GMT

Hi SMMOOOOO16,

Sorry to hear this has happened. Please follow Mi5's advice on this and lets us all know how you get on.

Re: Help after being Scammed

SMMOOOOO16 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:50:32 GMT

Yes i'll pursue trying to get a refund however i think my main concern is that O2 do not have a mechanism to protect its consumers from this type of activity.

Despite having been hit by the scam and informing O2 i want to put a block on charges of this type they are unable to do anything. Thats the bit i dont understand and i guess applies to eveyone, how do you stop someone charging items against your mobile when you have been led to the site unintentionally?

Surely O2 has some preventative measures in place to protect its consumers?

Re: Help after being Scammed

MI5 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:54:43 GMT

Some people chose to sign up for this kind of service so it's difficult for networks to control.

Re: Help after being Scammed

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:57:45 GMT

Issue is people want to access this and other premium material so O2 will not / cannot intervene.

A few years ago the same thing happened to me but I was on payg.

After not being able to properly stop the charges following all the usual avenues I changed my mobile number which is free the 1st time.

That obviously does not guarantee it won't happen again. 😞

But at least that cuts ties 100% with that company which is latched onto your mobile number.

Re: Help after being Scammed

Toby — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:04:43 GMT

Hi SMMOOOOO16,

I totally understand the frustration behind this and I'll be feeding it back to the rest of the team. As has been said here, it can very hard to control these kinds of interactions and unfortunately it can affect innocent device users.

Re: Help after being Scammed

SMMOOOOO16 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:30:26 GMT

I appreciate there are people who will use these types of services but i think if a customer calls up and requests a block on these types of tranasctions surely O2 should be able to do something especially if the reason behind why i'm making that request is legitimate.

Changing Phone number was the sceanrio suggested to me but as stated i use this number for work and have had it for over 10 years, this would cause massive disruption for me, but i may have to do this since i'm left in a sceanrio where potentilly now they have my number they could place further unauthorised charges against my phone and i am powerless to do anything.

So are there are technical solutions which would prevent your mobile number from being made available to sites you visit unintentionally and being charged? or are we all simply at the mercy of people far cleverer than me in terms of creating these types of scams?

Re: Help after being Scammed

MI5 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:36:23 GMT

Toby has said he will feedback to the technical team. At the moment all on can do is report it to phonepayplus.
You can also sign up to tps which will help with some spammers but not maybe in this case.
You should get your money back by following their process.

Re: Help after being Scammed

MI5 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:37:48 GMT

I agree that it's something that needs looking at but currently there are no other alternatives.

Re: Help after being Scammed

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:39:10 GMT

I agree that O2 should be able to put a block on it and if people want to use it then they get the block lifted the same way they do with premium rate calls.

I wouldn't give up on O2 just yet I would ring cs a few more times and try and get a refund I have had the same thing happen to me a few times and not once has O2 refused to refund me

Hang in there

Re: Help after being Scammed

MI5 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:46:16 GMT

Whilst that may get you a refund from O2 eventually, it isn't company policy and neither does it result in any action against the perpetrators.
On by reporting correctly can anything be done to get them shut down which will help other customers light term too.

Re: Help after being Scammed

SMMOOOOO16 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 14:00:59 GMT

MI5

Just having a look at Phonepayplus, bit confused about what number would i lodge the complaint against?

I received a text after the website had appeared on my phone which had a heading of Receipt on it, it doesnt state which number the text was sent from however? The only number i have is a "HELP" number to call which was embedded in the text should i use that?

Any advice gratefully received

Thanks

Steve

Re: Help after being Scammed

MI5 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 14:52:05 GMT

It's a payforit scam hosted by a company called `impulse pay`. Report the company along with full details of the text you received.

Re: Help after being Scammed

Cleoriff — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 15:05:36 GMT

Hi @SMMOOOOO16

Thanks for raising this issue on the forum.

Hopefully it will encourage others to follow the advice given here should the same happen to them

Re: Help after being Scammed

SMMOOOOO16 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 15:12:16 GMT

Thanks for your help.

Re: Help after being Scammed

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 15:14:07 GMT

Hope you get it sorted one way or another

Re: Help after being Scammed

MI5 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 15:16:23 GMT

Good luck mate...

Re: Help after being Scammed

SMMOOOOO16 — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 15:51:13 GMT

Ok bit of a development, I called the number 02035405930 on the text earlier this morning and have just had a call back from a company called "Socman" which appears to be tied in with another company called Switchfire Ltd on Telephone number 0207 798 2800
The woman i spoke to informed me i accessed 5 premium rate videos in the space of 4 minutes but was only charged for three on a site called Smashtube.
I asked her to confirm what i had accessed but she was unable to do this but told me if i click on the link in the text i should be able to access the content, I've tried this from a normal desktop but it simply doesnt work.
I've also googled the site she mentioned and this doesn't seem to exist either, she point blank said a refund was an option and when i asked to speak with her manager was given the name Dace Biesture, who doesn't seem to exist.
I said i will call back later to try and speak with her but don't hold out much hope!
I was thinking though is it possible for O2 to provide me with my data usage over the last 24 hours, appreciate they wont be able to tell me what i have accessed due to privacy but in terms of usage may help strengthen my argument if i can say that in that four minute period she mentions I've used no data, especially if i was supposed to have accessed 5 videos in this period of time? is this possible does anyone know.

Also she mentioned i would have had 10 mins to cancel the charge if i had called, but quite who i should have called she couldn't clarify.