88222 scam number

[Jenonnet]

I have been charged £10 extra on my bill for text messages that have been sent to me from 88222. I have not contacted this number and have not subscribed to anything, so why am I being charged for text messages I didn't ask for? 

[MI5]

@Jenonnet 

Help links:

Guide: Have you fallen for or been conned into a premium rate scam? What to do next 

Guide: Tips to avoid unexpected charges on your bill 

Payforit Sucks - Fighting Payforit Scams - Payforit Sucks

[pgn]

Sounds like this - you will have to follow the instructions to remove yourself from their distribution list, @Jenonnet 

 

[Jenonnet]

I have now spoken to customer service and after a very difficult call that took much longer than needed, I've finally managed to get them to set my payment cap at zero. This hopefully will will stop all premium numbers, which should include the 88222 one. They said they couldn't block that number, but didn't explain why??? 🤔 

So time will tell when I get next months bill to see if the charges from that number have stopped. They're also crediting my account with the charges. Will wait to see what happens. 

[MI5]

@Jenonnet 

Blocking the number won't stop the charges unfortunately.

You need to unsubscribe from their list.

All explained in the links I gave you above.

Good result in the end from O2 though 👍

[gmarkj]

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@Jenonnet wrote:

 They said they couldn't block that number, but didn't explain why??? 🤔 

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The cynic in me wants to say they are cut a cheque from the ill-gotten gains of the companies running premium message services, but who knows...

[Jenonnet]

Thanks. I have been moved from Virgin Mobile to 02 recently and all my settings should have moved over to my 02 account, including the blocking of all premium numbers, but that wasn't done. It took a long time to explain the problem and get it understood by customer service, but at least I got a sort of result in the end. I'll contact that number and unsubscribe from their list. Thanks for your help. 

[MI5]

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@gmarkj wrote:

---

@Jenonnet wrote:

 They said they couldn't block that number, but didn't explain why??? 🤔 

---

The cynic in me wants to say they are cut a cheque from the ill-gotten gains of the companies running premium message services, but who knows...

---

They do. All networks take around 30% of these charges.

[gmarkj]

A number of people have had this issue @Jenonnet .

VM seems to have set the default to not allowed, where o2 have the default allowed on this kind of thing.

Pleased to hear you have it sorted.

For more information, see if these help:

Guide: Have you fallen for or been conned into a premium rate scam? What to do next 

Guide: A Guide to Deal with Spam/Scam Calls and Text 

Phishing, Smishing & Scams. Latest info & advice. 

[Jenonnet]

Thanks gmarkj, appreciated. 

I did ring the number given to me in the previous reply, but apparently they're not taking voice calls anymore for customer services, you have to email them at:

customer.service@imimobile.com

So if anyone else needs to contact them to unsubscribe, they need to do so via that email address. 😊