A number of complainants reported to having received unsolicited chargeable text messages after downloading an Android application on their handset to extend the life of their phone battery. Users were signed up to a subscription service after downloading the application and the complainants reported to having had difficult in cancelling the service. The Tribunal found that users were misled into entering the subscription service, pricing information and contact information was not given and users were unable to leave the service by sending the ‘STOP’ command. The Tribunal also found that the promotion did not make it clear that the service was a subscription service, nor state the terms and conditions or advertise the ‘STOP’ command.mBlox Limited was given a formal reprimand, ordered to refund all affected consumers and fined £135,000

Posted via email from MIR Live

But £140 million – shocking!

The thing is, the operators just can’t keep up with the kind of security that the banks and credit card companies put in place – so of course that makes mobile the weak link when it comes to fraud, which is why the figure is so high. So what are they going to do if we do all use NFC as they seem to want us to? How much will be lost through fraud then.

Teresa Cottam of Telesperience phrased it nicely when she said:

“Premium rate fraudsters in the UK are cheating the mobile industry out of more than the biggest ever Euromillions lottery win – every single year!”

Teresa’s pretty hot on this stuff:

“We need to stop this money going into [fraudsters’s] back pockets, and use it instead to improve mobile networks or lower mobile bills for customers. Everyone in the mobile industry knows that fraud, bad debt and other types of revenue loss are a major issue – yet the cost [is] built into existing business models.”

Of course all this fraud means that you and I get higher bills and that anyone wanting to offer mobile purchasing as a way to py for their stuff gets a RUBBISH cut – the operators take about 30% – compared to what, 3% for credit cards. That cut – which of course is partly that hight to cover all the fraud – is stifling the whole mobile payments sector.

Chris Newell is the CEO of BillingScore — and has this to say:

“Fraud is an issue that not only affects the operators, everyone involved in the mobile eco-system, including consumers, is affected by it. All of us within the UK mobile industry need to work together to help save the £140m that fraud is costing us each year. Then we need to work to address the billions of pounds that the fraudsters are getting away with globally each year.”

That’s actually a good point – if it’s £140m in the UK, how much is it globally? Hardly bears thinking about.

Hello everyone,

Following previous discussions about Premium Rate Short Message Services, I’m delighted to announce that the bar we promised is now available. I’ve written this message to inform you all of what the bar is and how it can help you or affect your service. I’ll also be covering some alternative options and finally how to get the bar added.

The reason for Vodafone introducing the Premium SMS Bar is for instances where the normal methods of cancelling messages you’ve subscribed to don’t work, or if you’re receiving messages you haven’t asked for. The majority of premium rate subscription services can be cancelled by sending STOP or STOP ALL to the short code number that sends you the messages. If there’s no short code, or the messages continue after you’ve done this, then you can always contact us and we’ll provide you with all the contact details for the company sending you the messages. Alternatively you can seek information on the offending company from Phone Play Plus, the independent premium rate industry regulator.

We also provide a reporting service for anyone who thinks they are receiving messages they haven’t asked for. The service is called VSPAM and it’s completely free to use. Just forward the message that you receive to 87726 (a free number) and we’ll record on our database that you’ve received a spam message. Once we’ve collated evidence on offending companies, we’re then in a position to take appropriate action. This could range from financial penalties, to temporary or even permanent suspensions of the individual services on our network.

The Bar will block all incoming Premium Rate charged SMS messages being sent from and coming to your phone, and as such you won’t be able to use any kind of Premium SMS service. Television voting, polls, competitions and any other kind of offers which say “Text EXAMPLE to 00000″ will no longer work on your mobile. For this reason I really recommend the Bar as a last resort if you’re really having trouble cancelling messages you don’t wish to receive. It’s also worth noting the Bar won’t stop WAP push messages or MMS from reaching your mobile, but these aren’t normally chargeable anyway unless you follow the links within them.

So, on to getting the bar set up. If you’re absolutely sure you want to block all kinds of Premium SMS services, you can do so simply by contacting Vodafone Customer Service.We’ll add the bar to your account in the same way we’d add services normally, so it’s a quick and easy process, and the bar will be active within 24 hours.

If you’ve got any other questions about the bar, feel free to post these on the eForum. Over the last few months we’ve amassed experience and knowledge on this subject and are well equipped to help, although if your query is account specific I’d recommend you get in touch by phone or email instead as the public environment of the eForum isn’t the fastest way to get account queries resolved.

I think that covers everything, but on behalf of the eForum Team I’d like to say a huge thankyou to all of the users who raised Premium SMS issues with us, as it’s due to your fantastic feedback that Vodafone has endeavoured to make the Bar available. It’s taken us a few months to get it up and running too, so thanks for your patience during this time as well.

Best wishes,

Tom

eForum Team

That should zap any premium rate spam immediately! I like it!