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darrenp63 · ‎12-06-2018

I was awaken at 5.30 this morning by a text message saying I had subscribed to something and it was £4.50 per week. I have never subscribed to anything on my phone and even have a bar to stop this.

Just checked my account and £4.50 has been added to my bill.

I don't want to send 'Stop' only to end up being charged even more or on some kind of scammer list and this happen again.

So, will the amount be removed from my bill seeing as I have a bar and this shouldn't happen.

JAG12 · ‎07-06-2019

I Have the same issue in that I have had 4 charges to my account from a company called MobPair. I definatly did not order any service from these people. What I am trying to understand is how they are able to bill my account? What mechanism are they using to do this that appears to get past any approval process?

muggles708 · ‎07-06-2019

@JAG12 wrote:
I Have the same issue in that I have had 4 charges to my account from a company called MobPair. I definatly did not order any service from these people. What I am trying to understand is how they are able to bill my account? What mechanism are they using to do this that appears to get past any approval process?

@JAG12The mechanism that these scam companies use to make charges is called "Payforit". When you use mobile data to access the internet, Vodafone leak your number to "third party" companies, which they then use to make charges to your account. Leaking your number in this way it totally unnecessary. If a consumer wants some dodgy company to have their phone number, they are perfectly capable of providing it themselves.

Payforit makes browsing the internet using mobile data much less safe than using a WiFi connection.

In February 2017 EE introduced new rules to prevent Payforit fraud. They have been very effective in driving these scams off the EE network. O2 introduced similar rules in May 2019. At the time of writing it is not possible to say how well this is working. Unfortunately the rules on their own are not enough - they have to be enforced.

The regulator, the PSA, is planning to introduce new rules for these services later in the year. It seems likely that Vodafone will be the last network to offer their customers protection from Payforit scams and will wait until they are forced to do so.

Vodafone reportedly receive 30% of these scam "subscription" charges, so it is no surprise that they seek to protect the scammers intead of acting against them.

JAG12 · ‎08-06-2019

Many thanks for this information. I wonder how this is affected by the GDPR rules? Although someone would have picked this up I feel it was.

muggles708 · ‎08-06-2019

@JAG12 wrote:
Many thanks for this information. I wonder how this is affected by the GDPR rules? Although someone would have picked this up I feel it was.

@JAG12 take a look here:https://payforitsucks.co.uk/gdpr-issues/

GDPR complaints have already been made about O2 and GiffGaff. As far as I know, no complaint has yet been made about Vodafone. Feel free to do it!

TJ · ‎10-06-2019

I'm sorry to hear about these additional charges @JAG12.

Sellers offering the Payforit payment method to purchase their digital content or services are required to make this part of the process as easy and transparent as other aspects. For subscription services, the seller must include an easy way to terminate the subscription by texting the word STOP to a shortcode.

Please check for any texts you've had about these charges and make sure to stop them as soon as possible. Once you've done this, you can add a premium rate message bar to your account; plus an M-Pay bar to stop any charge to bill payments using your My Vodafone account.

It's best to get in touch with the company who've charged you directly, to ask for a refund of the charges. It's also worth reporting the number to the Phone Paid Services Authority, so they can investigate it further.

JAG12 · ‎10-06-2019

Hi

if they answered the phone, then it may be be possible to get a refund.

This is a scam, there is no way that I clicked on any link to agree to a subscription fee, and the mobile operators are making this scam easier.

Perhaps VF can refund the money?

muggles708 · ‎10-06-2019

@JAG12 wrote:
Hi
if they answered the phone, then it may be be possible to get a refund.
This is a scam, there is no way that I clicked on any link to agree to a subscription fee, and the mobile operators are making this scam easier.
Perhaps VF can refund the money?

@JAG12I don't fancy your chances of getting Vodafone to refund!. They make a lot of money from these scams and are not about to admit that they are doing anything wrong. However, the regulator is about to change the rules to require 2 factor authorisation for these "subscriptions". This defeats the clickjacking and iFraming exploits used by the scammers. EE introduced this requirement in Februry 2018 and is now free of Payforitscams (but have suffered a loss of revenue as a result).

The best method of dealing with these scams is to use the Small Claims procedure. Full information on how to do this is on the Payforitsucks website. If you are dealing with a UK based scammer, then take action against the scammer, with Vodafone named as the second defendant. If you can show that it is impossible to deal with the scammer due to them being based overseas, legal action against Vodafone is an option. In either case, make sure that you follow the correct pre-action protocols by sending a "letter before action" giving the defendant two weeks or more to refund before facing a legal claim. If the scam company is UK based, you may also be able to use ADR. https://www.commsadr.co.uk/

O2 customers have succeeded in getting refunds, both from the scam companies and from O2 by following this approach. The networks and the scammers know that they are on very shaky legal ground in trying to justify these "subscriptions" and have not successfully defended these cases. Legally the burden of proof rests with the vendor in these cases, so if they are unable to prove you consented to make the payments you are entitled to a full refund. In most cases a "letter before action" will get you this.

jeevaUK · ‎11-06-2019

They are getting commission from this scam so they do not want to stop.

muggles708 · ‎11-06-2019

@jeevaUK wrote:
They are getting commission from this scam so they do not want to stop.

I've been told by people in "the industry" that Vodafone keep 30% of the scam "Payforit" subscriptions. This is of course denied by Vodafone who claim only to receive "a small margin". I'm sure that if this were true they would be far more willing to take action to protect their customers.

When similar scams were exposed in the USA, commissions of 35% to 40% were discovered.https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/ftc-t-mobile-made-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-through-cramm...

zebadino · ‎11-06-2019

Vodafone contacted me following my complaint earlier in this forum and said they were refunding me the money, which I think they did.

But! The charges have continued, despite Vodafone saying they've put the bar on.

I replied to the Vodafone email that said it was all fixed, stating that I had received another 4+ weeks of charges, attaching a screen shot of the various times we'd replied STOP to FuzeForge.

Vodafone haven't replied yet and I sent that weeks ago.

I hope that 30% it sounds like they make covers the contracts they'll lose from furious customers!

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