Unauthorised texts sent from my phone

[Johnny1000]

I've just returned from a week in Egypt and discovered that under 'Extra Charges - Charges when abroad' I am being billed for 12 texts, all to the same number (0780 2000 332) which I did not send.  As yet, there's not a lot of money involved, but I am very concerned as to how it could have happened, and whether it will continue.  I've reported the situation to O2 Customer Services and asked that a 'charge dispute form' be opened.  Apparently someone will call me within 48 hours to discuss, but in the meantime I've received a text from O2 telling me that my Spendcap (which I didn't even know I had) has been reached.  Any ideas/suggestions?  

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

@Johnny1000 

Most likely your phone sending silent messages to register with things like iMessage, visual voicemail and anything else that requires a constant handshake with the network.

[jonsie]

Did you send any texts at all?

That number is the O2 gateway for standard texts which is why the number remains constant

[Johnny1000]

Thanks for your help.  I’ve visited Egypt many times in the past 15 years and this is the first time I’ve had the problem.  I don’t want it to happen again and I’d really appreciate your advice.  I did send 6 genuine texts while I was in Egypt, but these haven’t appeared on my O2 account which seems strange

There are a couple of things that were different on this trip.  Firstly, I’m now using a Samsung Galaxy instead of an iPhone.  Second, my phone now has a suite of Office 365 apps installed on it for my work – not just Word and Outlook, but also things like Teams, MiCollab, Company Portal & Authenticator.  Do you think these could have caused the problem?

Thanks again.  

[Johnny1000]

Thanks for your help.  I’ve visited Egypt many times in the past 15 years and this is the first time I’ve had the problem.  I don’t want it to happen again and I’d really appreciate your advice.  I did send 6 genuine texts while I was in Egypt, but these haven’t appeared on my O2 account which seems strange

There are a couple of things that were different on this trip.  Firstly, I’m now using a Samsung Galaxy instead of an iPhone.  Second, my phone now has a suite of Office 365 apps installed on it for my work – not just Word and Outlook, but also things like Teams, Mi Collab, Company Portal & Authenticator.  Do you think these could have caused the problem?

Thanks again.  

[MI5]

@Johnny1000 

It could be visual voicemail registering or another possibility is the company portal app.

I know my company portal app does this handshake regularly with our company servers.