Premium rate scam

[aq66]

Hi 

I have been targeted by a premium rate scam where I am being charged £4.50 per week for I don't know what. the reference is "MyConte02037403517" - has anyone else had this?  I have called the number on my bill and it is just a messaging service which says I will be called back in 48 hours. I am still being charged. Vodafone have blocked my number from receiving anything from other premium rate companies however they cannot cancel the charges. I am not receiving any text messages etc so I cannot reply saying "STOP ALL" as you can with others.

Has anyone else had this and successfully stopped it without having to get a new number?!

Thanks

[flagpole]

My mum doesn't have a smart phone, she has an old nokia, series 40. She still ended up paing £4.50

[HJS16]

Theft as you say.     Part of the problem possibly in your mums case is there is probably a samll amount of data on the package even though it does not work on the phone.  That is maybe exploted somehow.   

[vodspamfraud]

Vodafone are complicit in the theft of cash from my bank account. Vodafone absolutely refuse to help me, deny it is their problem, refuse to block the spam, yet continue to remove £4.50 a week from my account. If Vodafone had any interest in supporting customers the problem would be solved, so presumably Vodafone receive, considerable, financial benefit from these attacks. My only defence is to leave Vodafone. Be aware that it took me an hour and a half to obtain the necessary PAC number from Vodafone to enable migration to another provider, the last half hour of, by the, pointless encouragement to ask for a competitive offer! Goodbye Vodafone.

[HJS16]

Vodafone  can put a bar on these on the phone and cancel all premium rate subscriptions  in place.  i had an issue when I contacted them in chat and was told the bar was onbut i had to contact the Spam company to cancel.  Yet tried again and another person on chat said everything was cancelled.  I would imagine in your case should be able to block the current sunscription .  Strange though in all the post £4.50 a week is the problem.  Obviously all coming from the same place

[vodspamfraud]

Vodafone advice was that I should contact the spammer. Do the Police advise you to get in touch with the person who steals from your house and ask them not to do it again and to return your property? I think not! That is a job for the Police. I cannot believe that Vodafone are not benefiting financially from this fraud, although the Vodafone response was that they pass the money onto a government platform, a rather unusual suggestion, especially if it means that Vodafone do all of this work for free yet are unable to protect the customers.

[HJS16]

The advice to me was to contact the spammer about what had been taken, but I was eventually able to get Vodafone blocking it in the future.  I also do not understand why these blocks are not put on by default on accounts.  The whole thing is a disgrace, why would anyone even want a £4.50 subscription service for games.  The whole system is at fault not just vodafone but all mobile operators.

These spammers must be making a fortune.  I do not know if Vodafone make money or not but it is clear the mobile industry does not want to spend money putting systems in place to protect their customers .  These spamming companies should not be allowed to  operate so freely. 

[flagpole]

It would be interesting to see what percentage of these spammers get cancelled immediately. As in how many people are actually customers of these organisations.

Also I wonder what Vodafone's cut is?

[HJS16]

I would be surprised if it is even as high as 1%  maybe even 1 in a 1000 actually want the service or less, after all why pay £4.50 subscription for games   .  I would say the majority cancel as soon as they find out and depending how quickly could be £4.50 up to £30/£40 they have lost or more.  Most people  probably once cancelled get angry but move on and put the blocks on the account.  Just think how much money they must be scamming from people,   To make things worse these companies are probably all set up overseas. 

Agree there must be some sort of cut for mobile companies . 

[Alex]

@vodspamfraud We have bars which you can add to your account to prevent these subscriptions, but this bar wouldn't cancel an active subscription. 

Ultimately your 'agreement' is with the company and not with ourselves at Vodafone. The charge comes from your bill, but the money doesn't come to us. We can provide information on it, but we can't stop it on our side for you, which is why we advise you to contact them directly. 

If you feel like the company is a scam, you can seek further advice from the Phone-paid Services Authority. 

[flagpole]

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@Alex wrote:

@vodspamfraud We have bars which you can add to your account to prevent these subscriptions, but this bar wouldn't cancel an active subscription. 

Ultimately your 'agreement' is with the company and not with ourselves at Vodafone. The charge comes from your bill, but the money doesn't come to us. We can provide information on it, but we can't stop it on our side for you, which is why we advise you to contact them directly. 

If you feel like the company is a scam, you can seek further advice from the Phone-paid Services Authority. 

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Are you telling me that Vodafone makes no money from the scam? Because I do not believe you.