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printer44

02-01-2008, 08:38 PM

DaveC

03-01-2008, 09:49 AM

I have been recieving unwanted premium rate texts
to which I have not subscribed to.

Funny thing is that my number is known to select people only so THE NETWORK MUST BE SELLING THE PHONE NUMBERS TO THESE COMPANIES..

More likely that the number you are using has been recycled by the network and that the previous owner had subscribed to these texts.

May be worth checking here http://www.grumbletext.co.uk/page.php?pn=gtsossmsstop

printer44

03-01-2008, 03:49 PM

I have had my number for the past 10+ years so recycled number holds no credability for these texts.

Cheekymonkey69

12-01-2008, 05:17 PM

I have been recieving unwanted premium rate texts
to which I have not subscribed to.

I have spoken to and emailed the company involved with no responsable action being taken. It seems this company has been fined 3 times in 2007 with still 1 more complaint outstanding.
These are my calls and email to said company

"Tanlamobile through get-tone club has been sending me premium rate texts for services not subscribed to

29th oct 11.11am 3 texts recieved 78181
30th nov 13.11pm 6 texts recieved (yes 6 at the same time) from 82600
04dec STOP was sent to 82600

more sms started to com through AGAIN
30th dec 08.42am 4 texts recieved from 82600
30th dec STOP sent to 82600

1st jan 16.27pm 1 text recieved from 82600 (AFTER STOP WAS SENT)

This matter has been reported to phonepayplus (not that it will do much)run by the networks.

Have also phoned your helpline 0871 240 0608 (suprise no help there) seems I have no chance of my money being returned."

3 customers services has been a total non started, even said the 6 texts recieved at 1 go must have been a long message.There is no record of me subscribing to these services in my bill details.Have sent loads of emails and as yet only had 1 call (STILL WAITNG & WAITING)

Do not know what else to do as it seems I have to pay regardless. The networks recieve about 35% of these fees so can only assume that they must make millions every year. I still have quite a while to go on my contract so unless I can prove that they are in breech the I am stuck with them.

Funny thing is that my number is known to select people only so THE NETWORK MUST BE SELLING THE PHONE NUMBERS TO THESE COMPANIES..

What else can I do apart from not paying my bill.

I have ask 3 to supply contact details for personnel contacts as I intend to lodge a police complaint as this is outright theft. Details support this.

I have just recieved my 3 Bill for December and i have the same problem - 17 texts from 82600 - costing me £21.709. Having been awoken by these texts this morning i called 3 to enquire as to why i was recieving these texts. It is a company called TANLA MOBILE, service is Get Tone Club and is operated by 2COMM - I, like yourself, have never once downloaded a ringtone or communicated with this company to say i want this service. I therefore am paying for a service i have never ever wanted or given the go ahead for and in my book that is theft. 3 have been so kind to say they expect there bill to be paid in full and have been of NO help at all, they can't block the number or contact the company.
I will be charged ten pence to text STOP - which i subsequently did and within 5 seconds recieved three more texts!! This is an unbelievable scam and i intend to contact the police, Watchdog and OFFCOM.
I am at a loss as to escalate my query in time so that my phone service is not restricted by 3 when i fail to pay the bill in full - has this occurred to anyone else on here??
Your answers/advice would be helpful and appreciated.

acoolwelshbloke

13-01-2008, 08:54 AM

Report it as theft/fraud to your local police!

Also contact trading standards and ofcom!!

mario999

13-01-2008, 10:16 AM

Hi,

Your first port of call should be the OFCOM website. They will then direct you to the ombudsman that covers the mobile network you are on, in this case 3.
To start with you need to escalate this as far as possible with 3, write a letter and e-mail if possible, ask to speak to a supervisor when speaking to CS and clarify what the complaints procedure is. If 3 refuse to acknowledge that these texts were not instigated by you and insist on payment, request a 'deadlock letter.'
You can then use this to apply to 'Otelo' for a formal arbitration. Go to their website at http://www.otelo.org.uk/pages/1home.php These people cover the 3 network and may be able to asssist you. Just be sure to keep all records of any communication with 3.

In relation to reporting this matter to the police, I doubt they will be able to assist you as the company will have an address in London which will purely be a forwarding address and most likely actually be based somewhere on the other side of the world like the Cayman Islands. Not something your local police really have the resources to deal with.

Hope this helps.

printer44

14-01-2008, 10:35 PM

To CheekyMonkey69

you need to email this company with full details of the texts recieved.
customercare@tanlamobile.com
this is what I emailed them.

Tanlamobile through get-tone club has been sending me premium rate texts for services not subscribed to

29th oct 11.11am 3 texts recieved 78181
30th nov 13.11pm 6 texts recieved (yes 6 at the same time) from 82600
04dec STOP was sent to 82600

more sms started to com through AGAIN
30th dec 08.42am 4 texts recieved from 82600
30th dec STOP sent to 82600

1st jan 16.27pm 1 text recieved from 82600 (AFTER STOP WAS SENT)

This matter has been reported to phonepayplus (not that it will do much)

Net work has been inform that this now will become a criminal matter.

Have also phoned your helpline 0871 240 0608 (suprise no help there) seems I have no chance of my money being returned.

my no is xxxxxxxxxxx (PLEASE REMOVE THIS NUMBER FROM YOUR DATBASE PERMENTLY)

As i seem to be out of pocket is is only fair of me to give you some free publicity by posting this story on every mobile webstite I can find

Have a nice day and see you in small claims court.

Make a complaint here http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/consumers/how_to_complain/form/

Had a call back from this company and had a refund in the post today.

Also give your network provider a good kick and tell them to escalate your complaint as they are party to this fraud under the 1968 theft act by thier inaction to remedy this situation.

good luck

Cheekymonkey69

16-01-2008, 11:41 AM

Thank you for your replies.
Awaiting a call from 2COMM who instigate the texts, they have no contact number and haven't replied to my email. TANLA Mobile (providers of the software apparently to scam people) do have bricks and mortar office in Charing Cross and are escalating my complaint to 2COMM. I see from other internet chat rooms that ICSTIS are apparently in on the scams!
I am refusing to pay the disputed part of my bill and 3 mobile say they will restrict my phone services!! If they do do that then they will be in breach of the contract between myself and them so i will just change service providers. Hope it won't come to that BUT i am now awaiting a call/contact from people who have scammed me !
I feel for those people who are on Pay as u Go - they have no way of getting their credit back. This is a complete outrage and looks set to continue as there seems to be these premium text providers popping up all over the place.
Once again thanks for the info - i'm going to escalate this complaint as far as is possible - let's keep going and we will win.

http://www.giagia.co.uk/?p=118 an interesting read.
http://www.giagia.co.uk/?p=118

genaveve

16-01-2008, 05:51 PM

For your own sake, please pay the bill, THEN fight for a refund. If you don't, you're breaking the terms and conditions, and it'll be you that suffers due to wrecking your credit rating!

2-D

16-01-2008, 07:13 PM

It's got bugger all to do with 3, so they're right to ask for the money.

HYMO

10-02-2008, 10:08 PM

I have sent the following email to all the following, which includes my Local MP and Payphone plus and so on

Addresses
PhonepayPlus Press Office ; ****** **** ; Compliance ; which@which.co.uk ; reportingafraud ; watchdog@bbc.co.uk ; OCCtelecoms ; LARHofC@aol.com ; customercare@tanlamobile.com ; customer.services@3mail.com enquiries@otelo.org.uk <enquiries@otelo.org.uk>

Dear Sirs

I am sending this to all of you in the hope that someone can do something please read on.

At the end of October 2007 I made the mistake of signing up with Three network, right away I started to receive various promotional texts from them, and one in particular which came up as a service message was a text that said Download a free Rhiana ring tone, the message came about three times and on the third I thought I may as well download as it was free, I downloaded, listened to the ring tone thought it was rubbish and thought nothing more of it.

A short while later 3 Dec to be precise, I started to receive texts from 82600 (the same identical text, three in a row which I now know are called short-codes) I ignored the messages at first, I had heard of, and been charged in the past for responding to mystery numbers.

The 82600 texts stated;

Thank you for using our ringtone service.
New content will be uploaded shortly
SP:need-tone 16+
Text stop to cancel
150p 0871 240 0608

I ignored them at first assuming them to be crossed wires ( I have received texts from orange customer services offering me an upgrade!??) after a couple of weeks I decided to text stop but the messages kept on coming. When my bills came in I was horrified to find out that I have been charged (£20 in total)

• I phoned Three on the 5 Jan they gave me another number to call ********** (the 999 being very appropriate! )

• I Phoned the number they gave me (the person on the other end said it was nothing to do with them but they would get in touch with the company who would call me. (I since found out the company that I called were one and the same and they are rogues known as Tanla Mobile).

• On the Monday they called me at work on my mobile (Amazingly they got through to my mobile in an area I cannot get any signal ! )
The Woman on the phone said I had requested these texts, I asked; how and she said you downloaded a Rhiana ring tone, I said; so the FREE ring tone costs £14 then (not all the charges had hit my bill by this point.) She said; yes you were informed on the WAP page (I have never been to a WAP page, was not directed to a WAP page, never used a wap page in my life !!! all I know is I had downloaded a free ring tone !!! The text asked me to press OK if I wanted to download a free ring tone so I did. It was at this point I blew up at the person and stated they were shysters mere crooks. (I had done some homework so I knew that they had adjudications against them with Payphone plus / Icstis [toothless wonders] ) and that I will be writing to complain to all the governing bodies that may be interested. She immediately offered to send a cheque in the post, even took down my name and address. To date I have seen no cheque, I am more likely to wake up next to a horses head bearing in mind the kind of organisation I am dealing with.

****
*****
******
**** ****
Tel: 08719 *** ****

customercare@tanlamobile.com

It is not just me they are ripping off, there are many others. In my circle of acquaintances I have come across an alarming number who have had the same experience. Pro-rata countrywide this would equate to millions, try putting Tanla mobile adjudication into a google search see what comes up ! This is fraud and theft on a massive scale, if you do the numbers they are raking in millions on this scam.

Three Network are more than happy to take the money from their customers, pass it onto these crooks and take their own cut in the process (money laundering or acting as a fence by any other name) Three just say pay up or else, they have no sense of duty to their customers and will not take up my case, will not assist me in getting a refund, the reason I believe is because Three themselves are a shyster organisation who are in bed with Tanla (behind the scenes). They just keep telling me how wonderful they are for contacting Tanla to put a stop to the texts for me. Funny that, because the way it happened is they gave me the above 0870 number which I called myself at a cost of a further £1 for an 8 min call (don't get me started on 0870 numbers, it seems everyone wants money for nothing these days )

Sadly I do not have the original message Tanla sent me on my phone but I do have the at least two of the stop requests and can demonstrate that they have ignored the stop requests. No doubt if Three wanted to help they could get me access to the original text that started the scam off, but no one is in the least bit interested. ( I need to learn how to set one of these companies up myself, make a fortune for nothing)

I have attached below some sites you can visit but most searches on this subject will lead to hordes of people who are screaming out because they can not get their money back. Nothing is being done to stop these crooks who will not go to prison for this theft the worst that will happen is they may be fined or shutdown. This is a symptom of the mess this government has made of this country and if you allow people to continually be ripped off, then ripping people off becomes acceptable in a society. Also if I were to withhold payment of my money I will end up with a bad credit rating and then find it impossible to re-mortgage which will lead to foreclosure, these people have this power over the consumer in this day and age and they know it.

Please try the search or have a look at the web sites below
http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=25889
http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?p=360398

I am now tied in with Three Network for a another miserable 15 months but I actually fear my phone, another interesting point is when I signed up with these people they gave me a temporary number which had great reception yet once they connected my old number (after the 14 days cooling off period was up) I struggled to get reception all the time. It is a curious fact that Tanla can reach me in an area that has not three network signal. This last paragraph does not form part of my above complaint but if anyone has any information or explanation please let me know.

Please help ! I would like to get the money back but more than that I want to put a stop to this kind of thing.

1993godfather

20-03-2008, 09:58 PM

The same thing happened to me with this TanlaMobile but Im not on 3 but Orange. This is my story. This happened on 20th March 2008.

I been sent two messages in morning on that date above. One was WAP link and other one was from 82600. I checked my credit and found I got £0. I rememeber I had £3 evening on day before.

I called Orange, said the number and they gve me telephone number to TanlaMobile. I called the number, unsubscribed from serice I never subscribed to and pressed 4 for customer services of that company. as soon I pressed 4,the call kept hanging up. I decided to call Ofcom and they reffered me to Phonepayplus. I called the number, said what happened and they gave me number which goes straight to TanlaMobile customer services.

When I called, they said that it must have been one of their third party services and that they investigate which one it was and give me call in 2 working days. Its easter weekend so I have to wait 4 days.

I don't care about those £3, I care it might happened again to me or other people and take more money out of people's pay as you go credit balance or more money on people's monthly bills. Lucky I am on Pay As you go.

Now I have to wait till Tuesday.

Gino51

24-03-2008, 12:32 PM

The only way of making our account secure is for the networks to allow the option of blocking short codes. The only network to allow this is T-Mobile, all the other networks refuse giving one excuse of other, but the real reason is profit. The networks can earn up to 50% of the £1.50+ that we are charged for the scammed text as administration for allowing the thieves to use their network and for collecting the cost of the fraudulant text.

A few threads to read:

http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=503

http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=73880

This is just the tip of the iceberg............

Gino51

25-03-2008, 07:48 AM

It's got bugger all to do with 3, so they're right to ask for the money.

Just noticed this post from 2-D.

Do you not think that the fact that 3UK take a percentage, up to 50%, for administration from the fraudulant text makes them 'slightly' responsible. Even knowing that there is fraud involved 3UK will continue to debit the account of the mobile phone user and pay the company that has committed this fraud. Outside of the mobile phone industry, Ofcom & PhonePayPlus this is classed as a crime. I see that 3 UK has denied all knowledge of the company involved, if so how do they know who to pay?

I await your response 3UK.

StuFuzz

25-03-2008, 09:31 AM

Being on PAYG if this happens to me I will definitely be moving to T-Mobile.

Check out this whopping thread over in the Vodafone Camp having the same god awful issues:

http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=73880&highlight=vodafone+short+codes

quincy

25-03-2008, 01:08 PM

Has this been revived following the texts some 3 customers got (and is now mentioned on 333) - i got 2 on sat eve...

the sender was "3" - though i'm well aware this is very easy to spoof and it was of course not 3 at all

StuFuzz

25-03-2008, 01:28 PM

Yeah I got those and was a bit panicked.

quincy

25-03-2008, 01:33 PM

i tried to find out who it is on web but no joy "81456"?

at least hitting "reply" wouldn't have opted in

Gino51

25-03-2008, 02:00 PM

i tried to find out who it is on web but no joy "81456"?

at least hitting "reply" wouldn't have opted in

It seems that 81456 is a shared short code rented out by a company called textanywhere.net.

The jury is still out as to whether a reply would have opted you into any subscription but as a premium rate text it would have cost you a minimum of £1.50.

StuFuzz

25-03-2008, 02:31 PM

On their reverse billed message developer kit page it says the following:

- Send SMS text messages
- Receive replies to your sent messages
- Receive inbound text messages to your own dedicated number
- Query the delivery status of each sent message
- Set the Originator field to any alphanumeric string
- Send and receive reverse-billed messages, in addition to free-to-receive messages

That kind of facility should be made illegal as it promotes identity theft.

Gino51

25-03-2008, 05:11 PM

It has been quoted on another forum that '3 are investigating and know who is behind it but are not sharing that information'

If this is fact then the question must be: What are 3 trying to hide?

3mole

27-03-2008, 09:15 PM

3 Do NOT share your number with anyone else,anyone who says differently are scaremongering and lying

Gino51

28-03-2008, 08:30 AM

3 Do NOT share your number with anyone else,anyone who says differently are scaremongering and lying

'Scaremongering & lying' are strong words. You seem not to have grasped the points that were being made regarding the scam texts.

Is it not FACT that the scam texts have been received by '3' Mobile customers? Do you not find it odd that '3' Mobile customers were the only ones 'hit' by this scam, when a scam such as this will target all networks to gain maximum profit? Why were only '3' Mobile clients hit?

Why was it was only when PhonePayPlus listed the full details of short code 81456 on their web site number search did '3' Mobile finally admit that the scammer involved was none other than 2Ergo Ltd a well known name to the PhonePayPlus/Icstis Adjudication lists. '3' Mobile would have been able to inform victims of these details from the first scam text that went through their network.

Please tell us where are the 'LIES' & 'SCAREMONGERING'?

** Information as posted on the PP+ web site re short code 81456 can now be found on post #28. Thank you SNU

StuFuzz

28-03-2008, 10:31 PM

A lot of things pro consumer information seem to get removed seeing as this is supposed to be a community resource for aiding the consumer. If not why is there a Staff Zone for each company and a complaints log?

pav

29-03-2008, 10:09 AM

siralig

29-03-2008, 11:35 AM

It fairly clear with this latest 'scam' using 81456 that 3UK customers have been victims of a mass-marketed billing fraud.

It's clearly not a consumer issue. It's a criminal issue.

Have 3UK reported it to the police?
Have PhonePayPlus/Ofcom reported it to the police?

Gino51

29-03-2008, 01:10 PM

Please note it is against forum rules to post address on the forum, extract shown below details and on the link.

P8) Never post a person's real name, address, phone number or any personal details on the forum. This information is private to that individual. Also, you must not make a link to a person's personal information.

Re your extract of the forums rules:

We are not quoting individuals names, we are quoting the name of the company and address that was declared by PP+ to be responsible for the scam texts. Not an individual persons details but company details.

Should in someway 3G forum find it in breach of their rules to post the address of the company, something that is widely available, then why do you feel it is breach of the rules to censore the name of the company?

If you feel that this is the case then it would be in breach of the rules to post the name of 3, Vodafone, o2 etc. Has this decision to censore the name of the company been taken on a forum basis or a personal decision? I feel that this is against everything that forums are set up to do.

Will this be posted in full, censored or taken off the thread altogether? :lick:

snu

30-03-2008, 09:49 AM

PhonepayPlus has the following information about the number 81456.

This is a shortcode number. 3 are aware that some customers on their network have received an unsolicited text stating: Freemsg: we have you listed as an in-active user, please text "Live" back to us on 81456 or your service will become suspended. 3 has organised direct refunds to anyone who has been charged for replying to this message.
This service costs £3.50 per text.
To stop the service you simply need to open a text with the words STOP ALL (in capitals) to the shortcode number.If you would like to find out more about this service or have a question about it you should contact the company that provides this service which is listed below.

2 Ergo Ltd
St Marys Chambers
Haslingdon Road
Rawtenstall
Lancashire
BB4 6QX
Tel: 0871 871 9625
customer.services@2ergo.com