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Premium rate services petition to O2

MI5
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EE have introduced a 2!step verification process for premium rate services. 

Vodafone allow customers full control within the My Vodafone app. 

O2 currently do nothing and many thousands of customers are scammed out of a lot of money every month. 

What will you do O2!to keep up with the competition and protect your customers or are you happy to take a cut and leave customers exposed?

if you want to add your voice to this, please comment below. 

Over to you, O2 ?

I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

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MI5
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Yes it would seem so @adamtemp64. Either not grasping the issue or deliberately ignoring it?

I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

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pgn
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Hmm. O2 would seem to be in cahoots with these premium rate shysters, from what I read here.

I think it is time O2, a telecoms as well as a tech company, stepped up to the plate and locked it down before the scammers have made off with the customer's moolah.

Count me in.
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Rute
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I agree and support the idea,thanks to add me n well done.
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Payforit_Sucks
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@MI5 wrote:

Here, for your delectation, is the reply to my email (names removed to protect the guilty)....

 

Dear Mr .........,

 

Thank you for sending through the concerns expressed by some of our customers’ on the forum.

 

We take the protection of our customers’ very seriously.  For all premium online services there’s a two-step process which involves two customer confirmations – one click/tap to confirm the price and a second to confirm the charge to the mobile. We check every service we use to make sure it meets industry standards. For charity donations or TV competitions the process  involves sending a text or calling in after seeing an advert. We are constantly reviewing customer feedback and regularly update the payment flow to ensure that customers are getting the best experience, we then take appropriate action with our partners if things go wrong.

 

I hope this helps to explain our process and the reasoning behind it.

 

If there is a specific service you have a concern about please get back in touch with us.

 

Kind regards,


This answer is extremely misleading. It is true that entering in to a 'Payforit' subscription is supposed to be

(at least) a two step process. The problem is that there are exploits which can be embedded in web pages which can spoof these steps, effectively clicking the relevant links in the background. This often happens when a user closes a popup.  Checking that a service is compliant is not enough, as this check will only look at pages directly related to the "service". These exploits can be embedded in any web page making them near impossible to detect. Stopping these scams therefore requires  technical solution such as that proposed, rather than better enforcement.

 

O2 need to consider how the system is really working, not how it works in theory! The Payforit system which leaks consumers phone numbers to third parties is know to be fundamentally flawed and highly vulnerable to abuse. Two factor authorisation will defeat the exploits currently being used by these scam companies.

 

It is utterly negligent of O2 to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is wrong here. They claim that they  "check every service we use to make sure it meets industry standards". Does this check include a review of customer experiences? How can they ignore the evidence on Trustpiot that these companies are systematically defauding consumers? What checks have they actually done on the services provided by Lasevia Ltd?

 

Consumers need to start taking legal action against O2 when they are scammed by companies like Lasevia and SB7 Mobile. A few successful Small Claims actions against O2 (citing their negligence in allowing this to happen) might evoke  change of attitude.

 

There is so much evidence that certain companies are deliberately and shamelessly using the vulnerabilities of Payforit that I believe O2 to be negligent in law.

 

Paul

Phone payment scam? Need independent advice? Payforit Faq for O2 Customers
 
Help put a stop to these scams. Join our Facebook Group
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Payforit_Sucks
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If you want to help put a stop to these scams, consider putting in a response to the current Phone-paid Services Authority consultation. This consultation is on their business plan for 2019-20. It represents an opportunity to give them a consumer perspective on their regulation of Payforit (or rather their lack of it).

 

Details of the consultation are here: https://psauthority.org.uk/research-and-consultations/consultations/2018/december/consultation-on-bu....

 

My own draft response to the consultation is here: https://payforitsucks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Response-to-PSA-Consultation-on-Business-Plan...

 

I encourage everone affected by these scams to submit a response, even if it is brief. If the regulator were to require two factor authorisation for all Payforit subscriptions, O2 would have to comply.

 

Phone payment scam? Need independent advice? Payforit Faq for O2 Customers
 
Help put a stop to these scams. Join our Facebook Group
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ScottAG
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I completely support this. We need control of our mobile accounts, not scam companies.
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MI5
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Well it's been a week since I replied to O2's email, pointing out the inaccuracies in their reply and I've not received a response at all.
You can all draw your own conclusions from that but mine is that they don't care about their customers being scammed and that they are happy to take their cut from the racket.....
I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

Currently using:
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Cleoriff
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Seems as if that's the case slight_frown

Maybe it needs a massive national petition of all O2 users. Something out of our remit I expect?

Veritas Numquam Perit

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MI5
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Or OFCOM could grow some balls and do what they have been put there to do, funded with our money......
I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

Currently using:
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TallTrees
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@MI5 wrote:
Or OFCOM could grow some balls and do what they have been put there to do, funded with our money......

Couldn't agree more ~ these Government bodies never do much and are mincing when they do!rage



HAPPINESS IS BEE SHAPED

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