Mocoplay text fraud

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,
I've received the following text message and wonder if anyone else has. I don't know the company and have not given out any of my details... I just hope O2 will not allow this company to charge my phone account.

FreeMsg: Thank you for subscribing to MocoPlay Unlimited games for £4.50 per week from MocoPlay until you text STOP to 64546. HELP? 01183244333

[Cleoriff]

Even more worrying that this ad popped up when a 5 year old was playing a child friendly game! .

[madasaf1sh]

---

TinaTT wrote:
It's not from facebook, my 5 year old was playing a child friendly game on my iphone and this add just popped up and my son clicked on it. I then received the text message in my first post.
I don't see how they can continue to do this without penalty. I did not give my number or any of my personal details, so i was even wondering how did they get my number. There is obviously a security privacy breach somewhere...
The £4.50 now appears on my statement as something i bought! Right i'm off to battle and i'll let you all know the outcome....
(Since the phone providers are billing people without proof of purchase it makes me wonder if they are in on it sharing the profits).

-=---

I think you are having a battle with the wrong people if going after o2, as soon as you install the app you accept the terms of that app, and especially in IOS it does warn you before even installing if there is any In App purchasing or if the product is app supported. 

o2 dont know you havent agreed to pay the £4.50 per week, as daft as it sounds people do legitmately do so. As you have been told you need to go after Mocoplay via the links already provided, to contact the regulators PSA, and raise a complaint with them, I would also report the app to Apple and to the Developers and let them know that inappropriate content is being distributed in their game.  It's quite easy to get your number out of an app, especially one that talks back to advertising servers, and back to the developers, Also a script on clicking the ad, can run a call to get your number and reverse SMS you. Also when an app says it needs your number to send and receive calls and texts, then  it gives it away. I would always recommend reading the Privacy Policy on all apps, as youd be surprised what you agree to. 
I think you also need to take some personal responsibilty for this, you gave a fully data enabled mobile device to a 5year old, without any parental restrictions on the device, which would have helped in this situation.  Sorry if that sounds unsympathetic, but people need to take responsibiltity sometimes and not blame everyone else. 

[Anonymous]

What a nightmare! Right, to be honest i was extremely furious about this situation and very angry with o2 my trusted phone provider for charging me £4.50 without proof of purchase.

I contacted o2 first and told them what happened. I was told to call 01752484333 as they were the ones that charged o2 who then billed me, i was also told that the number is premium and i will be charged min £1. I then raised my voice and told them to sort this out or i'll be taking them to court for breach of privacy and fraud and said i was not calling a premium number. She then transferred me through to them and the lady that said hello got some serious tongue lashing. I asked how they got my number and what company they were, they lady said they were text nation working on behalf of the company that billed me and they can't give me the name of the company but they can stop the service and request for a refund and i will hear from them in 2 days. So i said, no way you need to refund me now! It didn't take you 2 days to illegally charge me. She insisted there was nothing else she can do.
So i call up o2 again with more tongue lashing as they had no right to bill me illegally and requested my money back! they then agreed to refund me and also put some sort of bar on my phone so this sort of thing doesn't happen again.

All i can say is criminals! All of them...
I got my refund which is great but i'm still going to report o2 and this other company.

[MI5]

You can get direct contact details from the PSA.

[Cleoriff]

If you google txtNation there is plenty of info about them

https://clients.txtnation.com/hc/en-us/articles/218718268-Customer-Care-Common-FAQ-s

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5374534

https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/scam-alert-txtnation-com-tricking-people-that-they-proide-me...

There is also a phone number for them in this link...

http://www.txtnation.com/mobile-billing/shortcode-billing/

[Anonymous]

@madasaf1sh, thanks some interesting stuff you've come up with! But i don't agree with taking responsibility for allowing my 5 year old son to play a child friendly game on my iPhone with me sitting next to him and watching. Also i don't think touching a popup ad (only displaying animated games) should result in one being billed without any personal details, authorisation or agreement given. O2 mentioned that i would have had to agree to being billed via my mobile phone provider but in this case i did not agree to anything!

When i contacted txt nation they denied involvement and said it was not them but they will contact the company for me and refused to give me the company's name (probably because its them). O2 say its Txt nation, so as far as i'm concerned its fraud and I don't think anybody should take responsibility for such situations (the amount of times I myself have clicked on unwanted annoying popup ad's by mistake but it does not result in me being billed. And if it was a case where i did agree to something while downloading an app then evidence of this should be provided but in this case they have no evidence on this according to o2.

Anyway i've now raised it with PSA and provided them with all my evidence...

[StopScams]

It appears many o2 customers are experiencing the exact ame scam, so my question is why is it still happening ?  What is o2 as a provider doing abou it ?

These scammers say there is a 3 stage authorisation process which is completely untrue because one click seems to allow them to take money from people that have unintentionally cliked on an ad, absolutely terrible.

o2 should warn customers that this is a scam which has been going on for what looks like a few years but still these companies are getting away with it !!

[MI5]

@StopScams O2 don't care. 

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Discussions-and-Feedback/Premium-rate-services-petition-to-O2/td-p/118...