How do you stop unwanted SMS from 80027 that are stealing my credit?

[frust]

I need to know how you stop unsolicited premium rate SMS and how you get the money they have stolen from me as a result. I have been receiving spam, unsolicited SMS from 80027 cellso-babes containing a link to a website. I have never heard of them before I started receiving messages from them and do not want to have anything to do with them, I can only assume from the name that they are some dodgy porno site. There was no indication of them being anything other than annoying junk so I deleted them thinking nothing more of it and not wanting to fall into the usual trap of replying STOP only to get bombarded with more SMS and phone calls. Why should I send STOP to something I never agreed to in the first place. Today I received a notification as one tried to come through saying I had insufficient credit for a premium rate SMS service. I have a PAYG phone and keep a very tight control on the amount of credit I put on at any one time. I have not (never have and never will) signed up to any premium rate messaging service so I was a bit surprised and checked my credit to find I only had a couple of pounds left. I'm unsure how much I've lost to these thieves as I can't remember how much I had before they started stealing it but this will be the 5th unsolicited message I have received from them. I have tried looking on this website and on others but can't find any useful, up-to-date info on what to do next. I would like to know how I go about blocking this number from sending me any more and how I can reclaim my credit that they have stolen from me since they have broken the law by signing me up without my say so and without my knowledge. There was nothing in the messages to indicate that it was costing me my credit to receive them. I use my phone for work and I can only assume that these criminals have found my number from the internet. I cannot afford to lose customers and my number has to be listed by my professional standards body so I have no control over who gets hold of it that way but I never use it to sign up to premium rate services, buy ringtones, enter competitions or give it to companies who are likely to sell it on to others. It is also a 2G phone only so does not/cannot use internet services. As things stand they are effectively holding my phone to ransom as the message I have insufficient credit to receive is blocking all other messages from coming through and if I put more credit on to get rid of it they will only use it all up sending me more. Because of them I also do not have enough credit now to be able to call somebody and speak for more than a few minutes so my phone can only be used to receive calls. I cannot do anything until I can get the messages stopped and the one blocking my account removed. Thanks in advance for any useful advice

[BandOfBrothers · Accepted solution]

Hi

Texting STOP should work.

Sometimes people are caught out by inadvertently clicking a link on social media sites etc.

Also look to http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/for-the-public

Customer services on 191 should be able to put a premium message bar on your account to stop these texts.

A similar thread https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Account-specific-discussions/66033-scam-text/td-p/1958106

One very extreme option is to request a number change but even that does not guarantee it'll never happen again. I understand you use for number for business so expect it's something you don't really want to consider.

[froggerty]

Texting back STOP to these numbers will not stop them, in fact it only serves to tell the senders that the number they are sending these texts to is active and Vodafone is earning a fortune from these calls.

Go into your phones settings and in 'calls' hold down the number that is displayed and a box should come up, tap 'send to blocked numbers list' and you should never receive calls from that number again. Do the same for any other unwanted callers/texts.

[MovingOn]

With all due respect,I do not agree. I contacted Vodafoen and they said they would stop all premium SMS.  When the SMS continued, I was told by Vodafone that they cannot do this and that I should not have been told this.

I was also sent an SMS that I should register with another site - telephone preference service.  A quick review of the site makes it very cear that they have nothing to do with SMS

Phonepayplus are not a solution either.  It takes forever to get anything reoled with the underlying company.  In the meantime the SMS senders are coining it because people are not checking bills  etc

I believe that there is a scam where lists are being sold and the network operators are happily sitting in the middle carrying the SMS and colllecting a fee in the middle.  As customer services put it to me: "we are only carrying the SMS it has nothing to do with us".

On that particular line, I had the luxury of cancelling and getting a new subscription from another provider.  But ultimately, it is the only solution  so long as network providers do not crack down on the senders

[Anonymous]

I'm not particularly in favour of these pay on your phone bill/with your credit schemes for this reason.

I do think regulators limit what technical measures the operators can take to stop service operators alleging they are impeding their business but it's far too easy for it to be abused in my view.

Saying that I don't think they do as much as they could do as it does bring a fair amount of revenue in for them.

One of a number of reasons I've always gone back to PAYG

[AnnS]

@frust

You are going to need to make a complaint through the premium rate regulator, PhonepayPlus, and get your money back that way.

As far as stopping future unsolicited messages of this kind, Vodafone offer a restriction bar which you can have added to your account.  If you would like the restriction, Live Chat can add the bar.  Ask for the 'Unsolicited premium rate reverse charge short code SMS bar'.

Further info below on premium rate services below.

Essential Customer Information

[frust]

Thank you for this, Ive already registered a complaint with phonepay plus, so hopefully they'll do something. If I haven't heard anything from them by the end of the week I'll have to complain again.

I'll have to see if I can get the Live Chat people to block the number and see if blocking the number from my for works, it's an old and very basic (but reliable) phone so I'm not sure if that function exists/works in the same way as on modern phones. I've tried blacklisting numbers in the past and it doesn't seem to work.

I don't use social media, either personally or professionally, this forum is the only thing I use and even then it's only when there's a problem so I can't have been "signed up" by clicking a link on such sites. I certainly wouldn't use my number to sign up to them. My pop-up blocker is also incredibly effective (they just don't happen) so I don't have to get rid of them manually.

Unfortunately, from further research, it sounds like the company sending these SMS just sign people up randomly and as soon as you reply STOP you get bombarded with more messages. One person I read lost nearly £50 a month after telling them to stop. It also sounds like they've been active for a number of years and just keep changing short codes everytime they get caught.

Some networks claim that they can't block these messages so I'm just hoping Vodafone can and will and that I'll be able to get my credit back. Obviously until I can get the things blocked I can't put any more credit on my phone because they'll just steal it again.
Thanks for your advice.

[hrym]

I'd never reply to any unsolicited text.   There are some legitimate services - weather forecasts, traffic info, horoscopes etc - and they'll usually respond to a STOP message.  However, the real scams will just note that they've hit an in-services number and it'll get worse as they'll trade this and you'll get even more stuff.   PhoenpayPlus is the regulator, but people have reported varying levels of success with them and, of course, there's not much they can do if the texts originate outside the UK.

The premium rate bar should stop everything in its tracks, but will also stop you voting on TV shows, paying for parking or making chariatble donations by text, if any of that matters to you.

It's very difficult for any network to block messages on an ad hoc basis, just as it is for email providers to stop spam - some will get through and there will be false positives.  At least with email there's a spam folder so that you can review things.

Personally, I'd go for the full bar, even if that meant putting up with a little inconvenience.

[frust]

Thankyou for your advice.

I agree about not sending a STOP txt back, even fraud specialists advise against it because it only creates more problems.

Unfortunately I tried Live Chat last night only to be told to do exactly that and they haven't put a bar on despite asking. In fact I tried to ask again once they said that was the only option only to find the person I was talking to had terminated the chat!

I don't use this number for txt voting etc so don't care about it being a blanket ban but since they don't seem capable of putting one on for me......well who knows.

Also how they expect me to send a stop text back when I've already said they've stolen all my credit, I recieved a msg saying insufficient credit to recieve another one (the very reason I found out about them). If I've insufficient credit to recieve one I've also got insufficient credit to send them a STOP one because it costs the same amount of money either way. Unless I put more credit on....only for it to be stolen by them I don't see an end to this.

I've already registered with phonepayplus and haven't recieved anything yet but I will keep going at it. I will not let these criminals get away with it and it's not just for me but for their countless other victims.

[froggerty]

Have you looked into the 'reject calls' suggestion that I gave you? Does your phone have this facility?