topic Re: Scam texts from 21203 in Discussions & Feedback

Scam texts from 21203

Sloz — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 22:42:34 GMT

Hi, i help out on the giffgaff Community, and over recent days, four customers have reported receiving texts from 21203, each message received deducts 10p

They insist that they haven't switched on the mmail service (text the word ON to 212)

Has anyone experienced a similar issue?
The concern is, that its possible for the mmail service to be switched on remotely for a particular number

Anyone have any ideas how it's possible for this to come about?
And if you have started receiving texts from 21203 out of the blue,
Could you possibly mention if you had recently visited a site or downloaded an app that you suspect could be the cause of the texts

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Bambino — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 23:02:00 GMT

@Sloz Lots of good advice on this site: https://payforitsucks.co.uk/ You might want to pass it on to your GiffGaff community members.

There's also this guide we point O2 community members to: https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/How-to-Guides/Have-you-fallen-for-or-been-conned-into-a-premium-rate-scam-What/ba-p/968023

Re: Scam texts from 21203

MI5 — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 23:01:37 GMT

@Sloz nothing at all relating to this issue reported on here.

You may also not get any understanding of the issue either, so I'll tag @EmilieT to check with our gurus.

Re: Scam texts from 21203

EmilieT — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 08:26:50 GMT

Thanks for the mention @MI5

@Sloz We haven't heard any report of this but I'll check with our gurus if they have any information on the issue you've described and will share any update here! Welcome to the forum as well

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Ashmatash — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 10:28:53 GMT

I’ve received 2 of these messages and made no changes to my phone nor did I activate anything. I only discovered I was charged when I received a message from o2 directly letting me know I had been charged. I checked the GiffGaff forums and the messages I received were of similar format

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Sloz — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 11:45:43 GMT

Thanks for all the replies everyone

@Ashmatash
Can you recall visiting a site or using a new app before that which you think may be the cause of the texts?

Incidentally, did you text the word OFF to 212 to cancel?

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Sloz — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 11:04:14 GMT

@EmilieT
Thanks for the welcome, and for passing this on to be investigated

The real concern is, that there's some kind of trick or script going about that will cause the mmail service to be switched on if you input your nunber somewhere

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Ashmatash — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:08:23 GMT

@Sloz not that I can recall I’m usually quite strict about what I sign up to. I’ve not done it yet but I’ll send it now to see what happens

Re: Scam texts from 21203

gmarkj — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:21:01 GMT

Out of interest, what is mmail?

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Sloz — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:27:16 GMT

@Ashmatash
Thanks for responding, you can check to see if your mmail service is switched off by sending an email to 447777777777@mmail.co.uk
(with 07777777777 being your o2 nunber)

If you don't receive a text, it's switched off

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Sloz — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:36:43 GMT

@gmarkj
Mmail is a very old (and expensive if I may say)
EMail to sms service run by o2

You switch it on by texting ON to 212
Switch off by texting OFF to 212
(both on and off texts are chargable)

You could then give someone your personalised mmail address
(number@mmail.co.uk
Or
Forward received emails to that mmail address, so that you can view emails in a text

The drawback is, it's very expensive, long emails will be broken up into so many characters and will then be sent in several texts (part 1, part 2 part 3 ect)
And cost 10p each text

Re: Scam texts from 21203

gmarkj — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:37:58 GMT

Ah.
Thank you for that @Sloz - I had never heard of it before.
Strange that it seems to have been turned on without consent/activity by the user though...
Does anyone know what the email is for/about?

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Ashmatash — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 13:56:15 GMT

I sent off to 212 and received a message back stating your email service has been switched off. Is there anyway we can find out how it was switched on?

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Sloz — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 14:07:31 GMT

@Ashmatash
That's the reason for me posting this thread, I'm trying to collate all those affected and see if there's a common theme on how it's occurred

Re: Scam texts from 21203

CJackson — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 15:26:59 GMT

Hi @EmilieT and @Sloz

Have there been any further updates on this? I received my first text message from 21203 last Thursday (7th) and Monday (11th).

I thought nothing of them originally and blocked the number but today I received a message from o2 saying I was being charged for these two premium messages.

I definitely have not texted any number to activate this service and the messages came out of the blue.

I spoke to o2 chat support this afternoon and they were not very helpful. I was just told the service was MMAIL and to text STOP to 21203. Their advice doesn't match with some of the advice given in this thread on how to stop it.

It was also pretty clear they were not interested in reading this thread or listening to me.

Re: Scam texts from 21203

EmilieT — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 15:31:43 GMT

At the moment I've not heard back that there's any known issue but I'm still looking into it and will post any update I receive here.

@Ashmatash & @CJackson

I can get our gurus to take a look at your O2 accounts if you need more help, just let me know via Private Message as I'll need some more details first!

Re: Scam texts from 21203

Sloz — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 17:10:40 GMT

@CJackson
Blocking the nunber doesn't stop the reverse charges, so unblock 21203 on your phone now

Yes, you need to text the word OFF to 212 to cancel (not stop)

And you can't recall using a new app or clicking a Web site that you haven't done previously?

Could I ask what the body of the text said?