Premium SMS scam

[andysmith1]

Bit of a rant incoming... 

A few days ago after visiting a site on my phone I was confronted with a barrage of pop-up ads which were swiftly closed. I then received the following SMS messages: 

Sender: Receipt

Message: FreeMsg: Thank you for subscribing to globalcams.world for £4.50 a week until you text STOP to 83463. HELP? 03300538665 

Sender: FreeMsg

Message: FreeMsg: Watch cams here http://source.globalcams.world/globalcams.php 

I, of course, text STOP to 83463. However, it was too late and I had already been charged the stated £4.50. 

I rang the number today and was told that I would not be charged again but as "the service was activated from the handset" they would not refund the charge. They repeated this over and over again when I pressed them for a refund. 

I spoke to o2 customer services who agreed to apply a credit to my account as a goodwill gesture. However, they said they were unable to reverse the charge or block any premium rate incoming SMS messages - they can only bar outgoing premium calls/messages. 

Two things about this absolutely stagger me: 

- o2 have clearly provided the means for this to happen. The only way a website would have been able to obtain my phone number is if o2 supplied it. I'm very interested in the technical side of this if anyone has any details? As far as I can tell o2 don't send any extra HTTP headers to all websites with any idetifying information. Perhaps just to pre-approved 'billing gateways'? However they have clearly arranged something with the company that scammed me using such 'dark patterns'. 

- There is apparently no way to block these charges. This is a lie - the network operators could easily block these charges if they want to. If I reported my debit card as lost to my bank, they would deny any attempted charges to it. Network operators could easily do this if they wanted to. 

One amusing thing to me is the actual content of the 'service' I apparently subscribed to for £4.50 a week. If you take a look it's just a bunch of embedded YouTube live streams i.e. absolutely nothing of value! 

[aliamami]

Hi, I just had the same thing happen to both my sons who have SIM only.

Initially O2 service desk stopped further monies coming from my account and then just gave me the phone number to call at Technifun and left me to it to sort out my refund.

I then read this thread as it didn't seem right and I called again using the arguments given by members of this group.

The second call they refunded me both sets of of my sons charges.

The second time I stated I wanted to make a formal complaint to a manager and that the process should have had two steps before my O2 account should be billed rather than the "presumptive close billing".

Hope this helps others as it took several hours of my day to resolve.

[harrington-cook]

I have just had the same text arrive as andysmith1 

Sender: Receipt

Message: FreeMsg: Thank you for subscribing to globalcams.world for £4.50 a week until you text STOP to 83463. HELP? 03300538665 

I was looking for doorhandles online - Googled and had the one I wanted about 3 down on Google - clicked on the webpage .........  Globalcams appeared - which I exited straightaway WITHOUT clicking on anything else ..........

Then the text appears

Called O2 straight away .............. who were 'defensive' to say the least ......... but when I read out a few similar instances from this page and others on Google - they suddenly got 'helpful' - BUT still are adamant that they cannot stop this nonsense !!!

I still fail to understand how the scammers stipped my phone number ??

I assume the bills/charges will still come   😞

Signed

Grumpy of Bracknell

[Cleoriff]

Hi @harrington-cook

You need to ring customer services https://www.o2.co.uk/contactus  and ask them to put these two bars on your account.

*Bar to Premium numbers

*Bar all direct to bill debits

This should stop this happening in the future

[TDI]

Hi,

I just found this has happened to me on my iPad data when I checked my bill. I have had 3 amounts taken out. No text confirmation as my iPad is not a phone. O2 told me to text STOP to 83463. Well how can I do that from my iPad. 

Lady put a stop on my account and gave me a £10 good will payment but has told me to ring technique up myself to get full refund.

After reading your thread I will be ringing back and demanding a refund and a chat with a manager.

Thankyou

[carol101010]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone had any luck with resolving this issue?

The same thing happened to me. I have been a loyal o2 customer for years and it looks like since last August I have "subscribed" myself to globalcams.world and a £4.50 charge has been applied to my phone bill every month since then.

I have only realised this now when I decided to look into more detail my o2 billing which I have had it on a direct debit since forever - BIG MISTAKE!!!! I thought I could trust o2 and therefore haven't been checking all my bills and charges in detail. I also fell pregnant in March last year and had a beautiful baby boy in December so I have been pretty busy during all this time and haven't realised that I had been the target for this horrible SCAM

I phoned o2 last week to understand what those charges were, and was told that someone was going to call me back to explain and that they were putting a bar on these charges - BIG LIE!!! I have also requested for the advisor Timothy to send me an email with all the details of what has been discussed and of course I never received that email. He was also going to send a message with the phone number of the company I needed to contact to request for a refund of those charges which he never did.

I called the number on the message 03300538665 on the same day and requested for these charges to be cancelled and for a full refund to be provided. I was told that charges were cancelled and that someone was going to call me to proceed with a refund - NO ONE EVER CALLED

I received a message from globalcams.world/FERDAMIA again this morning saying I subscribed. I got so *bleep* off and I called the number on the message straight back 03300538665. I spoke to Hayley who said I would need to reply STOP to cancel the charges and that she would arrange for someone to call me back within 48 hours to get a refund. I said I called the first time last week and demanded an immediate call and that I would not wait 48 hours.

Following all this drama I called o2 again and spoke to Natasha to obtain more details regarding the charges on my account. She said they are unable to put a bar on this charge and I requested a full refund of the charges. Natasha said I would need to call FERDAMIA for a refund. I said I had already called them and that they would call back within 48 hours. I went ahead to request that o2 also escalate this with FERDAMIA for a refund. I have also requested for a complaint procedure to be started so I can take this to PSA.

I did a google search and found this thread and found out that FERDAMIA is based in Cyprus (convenient hey?) and found that a lot of people have been falling for this scam. 

I then received a call from a person called John Clark at FERDAMIA who is supposedly one of the managers and informed that I was not going to get a refund because I willingly subscribed to this service (of course I never did). I requested details of when I subscribed to this and he said I would need to send an email to admin@ferdamia.com. 

I am so surprised o2 has not done a single thing to stop this SCAM!!!! well done o2, you just lost a loyal customer!!!!

[MI5]

@carol101010 

Not sure if you have seen this useful site for help too?

https://payforitsucks.co.uk/

and additional help about Ferdamia here https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly/bogus-company-called-FERDAMIA-INVESTMENTS/td-p/1115579

[carol101010]

I have called o2 numerous times to find a solution to this and have been offered a £30 goodwill gesture however the charges from premium text messages and globalcams since August 2018 come to £150!!!!! o2 will not refund these charges and have already issued the deadlock letter - too bad for o2 as they are losing a customer who has been loyal to them for the past 5 years. I am now moving on to a contract with a competitor for £10 a month with 8GB of data, pretty good huh? 

In the meantime I also emailed and called Ferdamia several times to try to get my £150 back but they are unwilling to to this. I have just now filed a complaint with the PSA and waiting for a response but pretty sure I will never see that money again.

[MI5]

Maybe @Payforit_Sucks can advise you further?

[Payforit_Sucks]

@carol101010 

You shouldn't just give up. Make sure that the PSA are sent copies of all correspondence between yourself and Ferdamia Ltd.

You are entitled to EITHER be given proof of your consent to the charges OR receive a FULL refund. Make sure PSA are aware if that hasn't happened.

Ferdamia are notorious scammers. Look at their Trustpilot reviews.

Unfortunately, this company is based in Cyprus, making Small Claims action difficult, if not impossible.

However the company that actually took the money out of your account IS UK based. Tap2Bill Ltd are the Accredited Payment Intermediary which handled your payment. I would suggest contacting them.

Tel: 0333 003 0599

Email: customer.service@tap2bill.com

Registered Company Address:

Tap2Bill Limited
5 St. John's Lane
Farringdon
London
EC1M 4BH
United Kingdom

Make it clear that you have exhausted your discussion with Ferdamia, and now intend to use the Small Claims procedure against Tap2Bill if they fail to resolve your dispute.

Insist that they show you proof of your consent to the disputed subscription. 

You should be asking for:

• Screenshots of the subscription workflow where you were alleged to have signed up for this service.
• A description of what the service you are supposed to have subscribed to provides? Is this a newsletter, access to a web portal?
• Any evidence that after supposedly signing up for the service, you actually used it
• The complete web server log of the subscription, including the User Agent strings containing all device details (browser, device type, device IP address) together with dates and times.
• If the subscription started after 11th May 2019, auditable proof of the additional authentication used (as required to comply with O2/GiffGaff rules)
• Full company details of the company operating the service, country of registration, full name of company, company number and registered company address.
• Details of the company’s disputes procedure, including any ADR scheme you can refer the matter to if they fail to provide a full refund.

In the unlikely event that they comply with this request, refer back to me, so that we can review the evidence they have presented. Try not to wipe your browser history as this may be useful in working out what has happened.

If they don't provide the requested evidence, and they don't refund, you should proceed to send a letter before action, both to Tap2Bill AND to O2. Sample letters are on the Payforitsucks website.

IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU SEND A LETTER BEFORE ACTION before starting any claim through Moneyclaim online. In addition to taking money without consent, your letter before action should allege negligence, citing the Trustpilot page I have referred to above. It was negligent of O2 and Tap2Bill to continue to allow Ferdamia to operate, given the widespread complaints.

Ensure that PSA are copied in to all correspondence, quoting your case number. If ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) is suggested you should agree to this. It isn't legally binding on you, but usually is legally binding on the company you are claiming against. It is likely that, by this stage, you will have received a full refund of the money you have lost, together with any costs you have incurred. In the unlikely event that the action is defended, please refer back to me for advice.

Let us know how you get on.

[carol101010]

I got in touch with Tap2bill and they are proceeding with a refund through a text message bar code that I will need to take to a post office and get the refund - a bit weird but at least it is a good outcome. 

I still think that payforit subscriptions should be abolished, extinguished, exterminated. I just can't think and believe about all the stress that I have gone through the past few months because of it. I really wish no one goes through the same I went throuh.