Recieving unwanted sms messages...

[lynx]

Situation is this...i came across an old payg sim on 02 which i gave to one of my kids (i pay for the credit as and when ) tonight i discover some company is sending texts to his phone which cost him £1.50 to recieve, there is now no credit left on the phone.I have called 02 customer service but hang up after 37 minutes on hold - 02 that is pathetic- . I am reluctant to buy another £10 of credit in case there are a lot more of these unwanted sms messages lying in a queue to be downloaded. Any suggestions on how to handle this as i've never came across this before. Also would OFTEL take an interest in this type of situation - as this is nothing short of comercial extortion.

 

[BBCuk2day]

My friend has been getting these txts too so we took it into some phone shops and all we were told is to ring o2 customer services but they never answer!!!!
Can this even be legal? Imean its worse than the scam were they prank you so you ring back and it costs you loads as in this you dont have a choice its like me writing a sentance on a piece of paper copying it, sendin to every1 in my area and charging them 1.50 each!!!

 

[lynx]

Anyone have a contact tel number for 02 ? After being on hold for the forth time today (again for ages) i eventually got connected to a human voice, to be informed that i should give details of why i was contacting them and an appropriate person would call back within 4 hours - this was at 12.30hrs today, needless to say it's now around 20.45hrs and no call has been forthcoming.Tbh i'm sick of the poor service and it's doubtfull that i will give them bussiness in the future.

 

[Messiah]

"It is important to point out that operators do not support "spamming" but do send their customers genuine text messages relating to promotions and operational messages containing information considered vital to the customer. However operators advise that if a customer receives a text messages to call/text a number they do not recognize they should ignore it.

Contact Details

For further information/advice please contact the following:

O2 -Customers are advised to contact the Nuisance Call Bureau -email [email protected] who can offer advice and assistance to customers concerned about spam and nuisance calls/messages. Users can also dial 100 on their O2 handset or 08705 214000."

"Alternatively, you can contact ICSTIS - The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services. Advice taken from their website is as follows:

How can we help with complaints about reverse billed SMS?

If you have a complaint about this type of service, please try to provide the short access code used, together with the text of the promotional text message and details of any commands or 'keypad instructions' given during the service.

Please contact ICSTIS on: 0800 500212 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected] www.icstis.org.uk

Customer can also send complaints about "spamming" to the Information Commissioner on 01625 545700 or by visiting www.dataprotection.gov.uk"

 

[bobbles]

How on earth can you possibly be charged for a SMS you haven't requested? It surely can not be legal?

I can see this being a feature on watchdog very soon

 

[lynx]

Thanks.

 

[Simon6776]

Are you saying that you can get a text, out of the blue, and it actually costs you to receive it, without even replying? That's got to be illegal. If you had £20 of credit on your phone, what's stopping them taking the lot in one go? I find this difficult to believe. I know, from searching for ringtones, that some companies send up to 3 texts @ £1.50 each if you want to download a ringtone, but how do these 'spammers' get your number if you haven't given it voluntarily? I've been downloading ringtones myself this evening, but from a free site, not one of these at £4.50 each, thanks very much! I'll certainly be keeping an eye on my calltime balance in future.

By the way, you must have to open the text to trigger the charge, yes? Surely the best policy is just to delete any unsolicited SMS messages without even opening them.

 

[Messiah]

I too find it difficult to believe but from reading lynx's post it would appear the answer is yes. I am well aware of reverse billed sms (premier text I think it's called) but believed the user (recipient) had to sign up to the service to receive the messages.

Reverse Billing SMS works using shortcodes. When a user sends a message to a shortcode, they are billed a set amount for the reply SMS. This technology can be used very effectively for services such as quizzes.

So, unless lynx, or some previous owner of the SIM, had signed up to receive these messages I am at a loss to know whether true or not.

BTW, this service is usually used by reputal companies who sign people up for agreed receipt of messages for football scores, share prices etc.

 

[Simon6776]

Messiah, did you spot my edit? Can you confirm that by deleting reverse billed SMS messages unopened, if you can recognise them, you can't be charged?

 

[Messiah]

Have just re-read lynx's original post and realise it is an old SIM which has been given to his son. I therefore believe that the previous owner of this sim card actually signed up or subscribed to receive reverse billed messages from a service and now the SIM card has been reactivated (in use again) the messages have started flowing again.

Easiest way to stop them will be to contact the sender//service and unsubscribe.

 

[Messiah]

Originally posted by Simon6776
Messiah, did you spot my edit? Can you confirm that by deleting reverse billed SMS messages unopened, if you can recognise them, you can't be charged?

If you subscribe to a service and accept to be billed, via reverse SMS billing, then it makes no difference whether you open a message or not. Once the phone receives the text message the owner is billed either directly from the credit on the PAYG SIM or on their next bill (if contract billed).

Looking further into this, there is absolutely no way anyone can be charged for receipt of messages unless they have subscribed to a service and accepted the t&c's / charges.

 

[Simon6776]

Thanks for that. Scary stuff though, isn't it! Technology biting back!

 

[woody67]

Why not just buy a new O2 sim for £4.99 and then the problem is sorted?

 

[lynx]

Originally posted by Messiah
Have just re-read lynx's original post and realise it is an old SIM which has been given to his son. I therefore believe that the previous owner of this sim card actually signed up or subscribed to receive reverse billed messages from a service and now the SIM card has been reactivated (in use again) the messages have started flowing again.

Easiest way to stop them will be to contact the sender//service and unsubscribe.

Let me clear up any ambiguity.The sim was originaly bought by myself some time ago.It was purchased as a temp measure and was not intended for long term use.When it was no longer required it was thrown in the back of an old drawer and forgotten about.After purchasing a contract free handset i then discovered the card and found it to be still active and gave it to one of my kids to use in the contract free handset.This has been trouble free for some time now.A couple of weeks ago i credited £10 to the sim account howver the credit seemed be running low very quickly, especially since i noticed the handset lying around the house not getting much use.I placed the handset on charge then when i switched it on the following day an sms was delivered to the phone indicating that on reciept the account was to be debited by the sum of 150p. As you may imagine this caused concern. There was also instructions involving me sending further texts to the company by return to stop further texts being sent, which incidently would also be billed to my account. I decided to have no further involvment with this scam and instead to contact my isp to request assistance from them. Having quizzed my son he is adament that no contact was made from him to request any sms messages to be sent to the phone with the exeption of a couple of ring tones. At this point 02 have shown no desire to offer any advice to assist with this.

 

[BBCuk2day]

That is much like my friend he has had the o2 sim since new and the trouble only started a few weeks ago and he swears that he aint signed up for any of these txts!!

 

[spidermanalf]

Having quizzed my son he is adament that no contact was made from him to request any sms messages to be sent to the phone with the exeption of a couple of ring tones.

This is where the problem lies! If you get a ringtone from the back of a magazine, in the terms and conditions, available on their website deep and hidden it will say they will sign you up for certain prem txts, and they will hound you forever! It is very hard to get yourself off these, mobile companies can stop txt messages from themselves, but not from 3rd party companies!

 

[pr1uk]

I have an old Orange pay as you go sim and one day out the blue i got 3 texts COSTING me £1 each for a ringtone i never wanted or asked for. What was worse i got the same 3 texts again twice more thats a cost to me of £12. Someone either put my name in the frame or gave the wrong number and as its pay as you go orange dont seem to care at all. The thing is you cannot delete these messages without reading them but a cost of £1 each is a joke someone is making big money out of this scam.