Re: Scam texts from 21203 - Page 2

Sloz · ‎11-02-2019

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

Sloz · ‎12-02-2019

@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

gmarkj · ‎12-02-2019

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?

Please note, this is not customer services and we cannot access your account. Do not publish personal details (email, phone number, bank account).

Link to our guide on how to contact them can be found here

Ashmatash · ‎12-02-2019

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?

Sloz · ‎12-02-2019

@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

CJackson · ‎12-02-2019

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.

EmilieT · ‎12-02-2019

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

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Sloz · ‎12-02-2019

@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?