Help after being Scammed

[SMMOOOOO16]

Good Afternoon

Just thought I would share this with the community for awareness and maybe a potential solution as well.

Yesterday evening I was browsing the internet on my mobile and whilst browsing I was directed towards a pornographic website which appeared in a new window. The website prevented me from closing the page easily and several minutes later I received the following text message informing me I had been charged £18:00.

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I didn’t pay much attention to the text since I thought it was just a scam but this morning I checked my account and I had been charged £18.00 to which I must say I was a little surprised by and am still struggling to understand how simply by visiting a website unintentionally I could be charged £18.00!

I carried out a bit of research prior to calling customer services and found that this appears to be a scam, I have included a link below which provides some information

http://www.smswatchdog.com/text-message-from/02035405930?l

Having had a look into this I called through to O2 customer services I was speaking with Jade, after explaining the issue and my concerns she promptly hung up on me! Not a great start!

I subsequently called back and spoke to another member of the O2 customer services team and explained what happened. He advised me that there was nothing O2 could do in terms of the charges that had been made and I would need to contact the retailer directly to request a refund.

I then questioned him about what I could do to prevent my mobile from being charged further, he stated that the only options were that I be more careful with my browsing in future or alternatively I change my mobile number.

Given I didn’t intentionally browse to this site and changing my mobile number really would be a last resort, I have had my current number for over 10 years and use it for business I asked what preventative measures were in place to prevent customers from being exploited against known scams such as this.

I asked if scams such as this are known does O2 not query such transactions? the answer was no.

Is O2 able to put a block on my account preventing charges of this nature? the answer is no.

I find it quite unbelievable that there are no preventative measures in place to protect people from being charged in this way.

I compare the situation to me having a credit card, if there is any unusual activity on that credit card or if it looks as if it is being used for a known scam the credit card company will take preventative action to prevent the consumer from being exploited.

Currently I feel exceptionally vulnerable, I have been a victim of a scam, O2's advice is to contact the vendor/scammer directly to try to obtain a refund which I have attempted but as expected the phone number provided in the text message simply goes to an answerphone.

O2 is also stating that they do not have the ability to stop any further payments from this vendor which in all fairness I find astonishing and extremely concerning, potentially I could be liable for tens or hundreds of pounds worth of charges which I simply can do nothing about!

So is there a technical solution to prevent something like this happening in the future since O2 cant do anything to help me and reassure me, I’m still confused how going to a website they can obtain my phone number for instance, if I had Caller ID set to withhold would this prevent this?

Thanks

[MI5]

I agree that it's something that needs looking at but currently there are no other alternatives.

[Anonymous]

I agree that O2 should be able to put a block on it and if people want to use it then they get the block lifted the same way they do with premium rate calls.

I wouldn't give up on O2 just yet I would ring cs a few more times and try and get a refund I have had the same thing happen to me a few times and not once has O2 refused to refund me

Hang in there

[MI5]

Whilst that may get you a refund from O2 eventually, it isn't company policy and neither does it result in any action against the perpetrators.
On by reporting correctly can anything be done to get them shut down which will help other customers light term too.

[SMMOOOOO16]

MI5

Just having a look at Phonepayplus, bit confused about what number would i lodge the complaint against?

I received a text after the website had appeared on my phone which had a heading of Receipt on it, it doesnt state which number the text was sent from however? The only number i have is a "HELP" number to call which was embedded in the text should i use that?

Any advice gratefully received

Thanks

Steve

[MI5]

It's a payforit scam hosted by a company called `impulse pay`. Report the company along with full details of the text you received.

[Cleoriff]

Hi @SMMOOOOO16 

Thanks for raising this issue on the forum.

Hopefully it will encourage others to follow the advice given here should the same happen to them

[SMMOOOOO16]

Thanks for your help.

[Anonymous]

Hope you get it sorted one way or another

[MI5]

Good luck mate...

[SMMOOOOO16]

Ok bit of a development, I called the number 02035405930 on the text earlier this morning and have just had a call back from a company called "Socman" which appears to be tied in with another company called Switchfire Ltd on Telephone number 0207 798 2800
The woman i spoke to informed me i accessed 5 premium rate videos in the space of 4 minutes but was only charged for three on a site called Smashtube.
I asked her to confirm what i had accessed but she was unable to do this but told me if i click on the link in the text i should be able to access the content, I've tried this from a normal desktop but it simply doesnt work.
I've also googled the site she mentioned and this doesn't seem to exist either, she point blank said a refund was an option and when i asked to speak with her manager was given the name Dace Biesture, who doesn't seem to exist.
I said i will call back later to try and speak with her but don't hold out much hope!
I was thinking though is it possible for O2 to provide me with my data usage over the last 24 hours, appreciate they wont be able to tell me what i have accessed due to privacy but in terms of usage may help strengthen my argument if i can say that in that four minute period she mentions I've used no data, especially if i was supposed to have accessed 5 videos in this period of time? is this possible does anyone know.

Also she mentioned i would have had 10 mins to cancel the charge if i had called, but quite who i should have called she couldn't clarify.