Scam J1 Media please be aware

[Stein-o-mite]

Hello

Recently I noticed I was being charged £4.50 per week on my O2 bill by a “company” that call themselves ‘J1 Media’. After googling them and finding not much info other than threads on forums of people warning of this said scam. I spoke to o2 help online chat and they could see it was a scam, basically from pop-ups on the internet. I hadn’t clicked anything or more importantly not entered any of my details to anything. I was given various blocked or dead numbers to call and an e mail. On emailing I was put into contact with a David Flood who I found is listed on HMRC as “director” of J1 Media so when I saw this I was 100% convinced this was bogus! After him denying me a refund I called him out and now he has backtracked.

Has anyone else had this? O2 are very aware of this scam and on looking on the internet, I can summise that this company has a few pseudonyms to hide under.

[CC]

Right!

I noticed O2 had added some charges to my account.

When I digged, I notice the charges related to an app, owned by a company called J1 Media Limited (take a look at them on Company's House), they're a one-man company!

I emailed J1 Media Limited stating that I believe they have breached GDPR by charging for me a service I did not consent to subscribing to. I asked them to provide evidence I consented clearly. I also submitted a Subject Access Request. David Flood responded (Director) offering to issue me a full refund... I think once I started quoting GDPR, he panicked. He cancelled the subscription. 02 also barred the service. He didn't acknowledge any of my questions about how he came to obtain my custom.

I will be informing the ICO about this. I also think 02 have not covered themselves in glory by continuing to charge customers for use of a service that 02 have themselves received complaints about.

I encourage you to do the same: casework@ico.org.uk

If you receive a charge, you can email: David@J1Media.net.

This is definitely an example of very unscrupulous behaviour by this 'organisation' and poor security practises by O2 who should do more to safeguard customers' data.

[Alexander_T_Gr8]

Yep, its deffinitely a scam and O2 know it.

I had an additional £9 charge for 'Things you have bought' on my O2 bill. As soon as I queried it with O2 on the online chat I was told it was J1 Media and that they were blocking the number and I should Text 'Stop' to 83463 and they then provided the customer service number - 3300538774. All before I had typed my next line. 

Rather frustrated with O2 that they clearly know its a scam their customers are being subjected to but that they are not proactively managing the situation. If their Customer Services are well informed and have all the info to hand then surely they should be stopping it at source rather than after (when/if) the customer queries the bill?

I am e-mailing the address provided (Thanks CC) to get my £9.00 back. Am asking for the details of the services I bought, specific details of when and how I actively subscribed. What data they hold about me and when and how I gave them permsion to use that data (subject access request under GDPR) and am thretening contacting the Information Commisioner's Office.

Really hacked off that this guy took my money in exchange for nothing and that O2 have been compliant in billing me on behalf of this guy when they know this is a con.

Thanks to all who have already posted and provided answers.

[jonsie]

Scams have always been a blight on mobile phones but am I alone in thinking that by using more sophisticated means to get your details, these scams are increasing at an alarming rate.
Sort this out O2, along with the other networks. With 2 step authorisation, this will put an end to these dispicable 'companies' almost overnight. EE have done this, it isn't difficult, so put your customers first before raking in your blood money. The toothless watchdogs have had years to implement legislation but sit back watching the consumers suffer.
It's not just the financial loss for customers, it's also the stress caused and the time lost attempting to claw the money back

[Cleoriff]

Totally agree @jonsie. 2 step verification has been implemented by other networks so O2 are laghing way behind with this. I will also tag @Payforit_Sucks into this thread as he, via his website, helps unsuspecting customers who have fallen for these scams. He may be interested in seeing the above two posts by @CC and @Alexander_T_Gr8

[Stag]

Thank you for the advice as I have experienced the same issue and I strongly believe that O2 need to enforce a process to protect their customers. Are you able to confirm the process for the refund as i’m Now sceptical regarding the links and process for this refund. Thank you

[PaulKirk]

I have also been scammed by this unscrupuolous chap !

He basically charges £9/week to your O2 bill without authorisation.

I have sued him (David Flood and J1 media Ltd) which is very easy to do. He then immediately accepts responsibility amd pays out. It also causes him and his company a great deal of hassle and further cash fines.

Issuing a county court summons against him is very easy and only takes 5 mins;

1. log onto https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome and sign in/register.

2. Start new claim. 

I have attached details of my claim below to help;

Claim

Claim number

xxxxxxxxx

Issue date

21/08/2018

Reference

J1 Media

Claimant

xxxxxxx

xxxxxxx

xxxxxxx

First Defendant

Mr David Flood

J1 Media Ltd

27 Old Gloucester Street

LONDON

WC1N 3AX

Second Defendant

J1 Media Ltd

27 Old Gloucester Street

LONDON

WC1N 3AX

Particulars of Claim

J1 Media have been billing me £9 per week for
sending me text messages. I have never signed
up for such text messages. There is much
information online regarding their fraudulent
scams. They have charged me, without
authorisation or consent, £36 in total. I
have also informed the ICO of their
fraudulent activity.
The claimant claims interest under section 69
of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of
8% a year from 01/08/2018 to 20/08/2018 on
£36.00 and also interest at the same
rate up to the date of judgment or earlier
payment at a daily rate of £2.88.

Details of claim

Amount claimed

£36.00

Court fee

£25.00

Total amount

£61.00

Signed

xxxxxxxxxx

[jonsie]

Nice one @PaulKirk, maybe we need a tutorial on this that we can refer to....

[kishorenk]

Thank you so much for the solution. I did the same and they refunded the money

[Cleoriff]

Good news @kishorenk

and welcome to the forum

[Pelican]

Very informative and thank you for such thorough guidance as to suing this David Flood.

He has scammed my wife since early July with this and it has only just come to my attention.

I am staggered that O2 have permitted J1 Media to continue to rob from their customers, given this was first brought to their attention over 10 weeks ago.

For a fantastic business, this is notably poor behaviour.

I'm not sure what % they take of the £4.50, but I would hope they donate that % amount to charity for all their customers who have been scammed by J1 Media's David Flood.

That would be the right thing to do...