cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
1

Ask

2

Reply

3

Solution

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

frust
4: Newbie

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

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

BandOfBrothers
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion
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.

Current Phone  >

Samsung Galaxy s²³ Ultra 512gb Phantom Black.

 

 

View solution in original position

22 REPLIES 22

froggerty
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

Your screenshot will not open in another tab Annie, not on my PC anyway.

 

Log on to your account, click on mamage account, then bars then scroll down the list and turn on by clicking the greyed out 'off' boxes beside the ones you wish to take control of.

Annie_N
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

Thanks for that, @froggerty! Disappointing that it isn't opening OK for you - seems to behave OK for me. Because I use my mouse left-handed, I sometimes mis-describe these things, but I've checked it. "Main-clicking" does nothing, but "other-clicking" produces a list of options, including "open in new tab".

 

I'm using Google Chrome, and Windows Vista. I've just tried using IE9, and the options to open are all greyed out. Tried turning off the pop-up blocker, but that doesn't help, so my only option within IE9 seems to be to save it as a picture, then have a look at it. Hmm, I'll have to do some experimentation! In the meantime I'll stop using screenshots as a way to demonstrate such options. [EDIT: Just checked Windows 7 and IE11 (with RH mouse) - the options to open are also all greyed out! On the other hand, zooming in does produce readable text.]

 

Annie.

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

FWIW, if I left click on the image in Firefox, nothing happens.  However, If I right click and then select "view image", it opens full size - in a new tab.