My Media Games scam

[paul72]

My little brother who is disabled and has no capacity to go through online payment, has recently been charged 4 weeks of £4.50 for a subscription to MyMediaGames.

The company has provided no proof other than a time stamp of the transaction, along with text messages recieved on the same day to say he was subscribed, however he can not text anyone and does not understand the content even though it was just to say he was subscribed.

The company is now no longer replying to emails asking for a refund of these charges.

The PSA has been contacted and said no action to be taken.

I have spoken to O2 at the time this was discovered and put a block on his phone to prevent any other charges being applied.

Does anyone know of any other way to get a refund or to take this further? 

O2 says they are not responsible for the charges and can not offer a refund.

also there is no browing history for the website in question, i presume they have randomly generated mobile phone numbers and charged the phone account. I have noted a complaint of exact same issue on giffgaff from another customer. 

[Bambino · Accepted solution]

@paul72 Please see this link: https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/How-to-Guides/Have-you-fallen-for-or-been-conned-into-a-premium-rate-s...

Unfortunately, your brother may have inadvertently clicked on something he shouldn't have.

Edit: If O2 have now put a block on his phone to avoid further charges, there may be nothing else you can do, and you might just have to bear the existing cost without a refund.

[paul72]

shortcodes.org.uk/60138-short-code/

plenty more people with same issue, appears the company keeps changing it's name

thing is my brother does not have the capacity to do that, all he can do is touch an icon that calls a specific family member, he is disabled and his phone is set to easy mode, no browser. nor are there any text messages that he could reply to in order to start the subscription, he does not even know his phone number.

[MI5]

There's a good support website here offering suggestions https://payforitsucks.co.uk/

[Bambino]

@paul72 If the company keeps changing its name they will be almost impossible to track down. I don't know how much good this link will do, but you might want to take a look here too: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

[Payforit_Sucks]

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@paul72 wrote:

shortcodes.org.uk/60138-short-code/

plenty more people with same issue, appears the company keeps changing it's name

thing is my brother does not have the capacity to do that, all he can do is touch an icon that calls a specific family member, he is disabled and his phone is set to easy mode, no browser. nor are there any text messages that he could reply to in order to start the subscription, he does not even know his phone number.

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@paul72

This appears to be a 'Payforit' scam.

Let's try to clear a few things up for you. Firstly, how did you get signed up? @Bambinohas given you the 'official' explanation.

The 'official' advice is that you must have 'inadvertently' clicked a link. Actually, to legitimately sign up for these services you need to have clicked on a box saying 'Subscribe for £4.50/wk' and then clicked on a box saying 'Confirm this charge to your phone account'. If you didn't see these boxes and click on them you've been scammed. So many people are becoming subscribed to these 'services' without knowingly giving consent that something is seriously wrong.

There is a growing body of evidence that these 'ghost' signups are often the result of malicious code embedded in web pages, or malware on the users phone.

The reality is that O2 make no check on the validity of any consent given, and just allow these companies to plunder your account without making any checks or taking any responsibility.

Now we need to turn to what steps you can take. Firstly, and most importantly, contact the company and ensure that any further charges are stopped. Also ask O2 to place a 'charge to bill' bar on the account, so that this can't happen again.

The shortcode 60138 is operated by a company called txtNation. They in turn provide a service to a number of other 'services'. So it isn't that the company is changing it's name. A number of different 'services' are using the same number. What you need to do is to establish the name, and company details, of the company which took your money. I would expect txtNation to help with this. Contact details for txtNation are:

txtNation Ltd
15 Billacombe Road
Plymstock
Plymouth
PL9 7HX
United Kingdom

Tel: 0118 324 4333

Tell txtNation that you are pursuing a complaint against MyMedaiGames, and that you require full details of the company, including

Company Name

Company Regstered Address

Company Number

Company contact details, including email.

They are required by the regulator to hold these details and to provide them to consumers on request. If they try to avoid this, contact the Phone-paid Services Authority and report them for failing to meet their obligations.

You can check the details given against those held at Companies House. You might even be lucky enough to get the home address of one or more of the directors!

Assuming that you have already contacted MyMedia Games and they have refused a refund, try to get this refusal in writing. Then send a 'letter before action' to them. It is essential that you are able to prove delivery of this,  so if you send it by email but they fail to acknowlege receipt, send a copy to the company's registered address using a service which provides proof of delivery.

Most companies will have paid out by the time you reach this stage. They really don't want to have to justify their dubious business practices in court!

In the event that the company still fails to refund, you will need to take ation through the small claims system. Start an action through Moneyclaim Online. It will cost you £25, which will be added to your claim.

To date, no company has failed to pay out in full by this stage. If your case gets to this stage, contact me through the payforitsucks website and I will assist you in preparing a bundle for court.

Comprehensive and independent advice on these scams (which does not seek to blame the victim!) is available on the website linked in my signature. The website includes a template letter before action, on which to base your own.

These scams are a disgrace to the mobile communications industry, and it is time that they were brought to an end.

Paul

[paul72]

Thank you so much for all of that.
I checked the history on my brothers phone and there was no actvity for the whole week, thing is his phone is for emergencies only, the only time he uses it is when he needs to call a family member. He has 500mb of data per month and uses about 200 which is updates the phone does.
Mymediagames are refusing to refund and have not supplied a bill or any proof, just a time stamp of when the "transaction" was done, which also happened to be a time he would not use the phone.
I will follow your advise though, thank you.
And yes it is very poor that this can happen. Think O2 need a letter also.

Paul

[Payforit_Sucks]

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@paul72 wrote:
Thank you so much for all of that.
I checked the history on my brothers phone and there was no actvity for the whole week, thing is his phone is for emergencies only, the only time he uses it is when he needs to call a family member. He has 500mb of data per month and uses about 200 which is updates the phone does.
Mymediagames are refusing to refund and have not supplied a bill or any proof, just a time stamp of when the "transaction" was done, which also happened to be a time he would not use the phone.
I will follow your advise though, thank you.
And yes it is very poor that this can happen. Think O2 need a letter also.

Paul

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@paul72

It's unfortunate that O2 will not take any responsibility for these scams. They pass your number to the third parties and then facilitate the plundering of your account, using the number they have supplied.
The Mobile Operators Code of Practice for the Management and Operation of Payforit requires that Mobile networks assist customers who are unable to get a satisfactory resolution from the 'service' provider.

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Unfortunately O2 is not alone in neglecting it's obligations under this code. However, trying to force O2 to meet it's obligations is likely to be more difficult that getting a refund by pursuing the third party company.

Paul

[User1]

Report to the Phonepaid Services Authority  and they will investigate

This may take a while (6months in my case) but they suceeded in their investigation, the company was fined and made to refund the charges

[User1]

Report to the Phonepaid Services Authority  and they will investigate

This may take a while (6months in my case) but they suceeded in their investigation, the company was fined and made to refund the charges