January 26, 2005
Text scam costs mobile users dear
Thousands of mobile phone users have been charged up to £1.50 a time for text messages they say they never asked for, a BBC News 24 investigation has discovered, reports the BBC.
"Some customers may have signed up by mistake but others are the victim of a mobile scam.
The premium rate services regulator ICSTIS (the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services) has now warned text messaging companies to put their house in order or face action.
Some services mislead the customer into accepting a service they don't want and charge a premium rate that can land the customer with a bill of thousands of pounds.
No-one should receive a text message that they have to pay for without having subscribed to the service beforehand.
Rob Dwight of ICSTIS, which is clamping down on premium rate texting scams
The trouble is there are many ways that you can "subscribe" without realising it:
-- If you receive a text inviting you to subscribe to a service and you text back "no thanks" or something less polite, the computer at the other end can't read, so it may take your reply as an agreement to subscribe.
-- If you fill in a coupon for a competition in a magazine or newspaper that entails giving your mobile phone number, you may find that the tiny print at the bottom also subscribes you to a linked text messaging service.
-- If you visit a website offering a free ringtone which you accept, the terms and conditions of service may state that you must also take regular paid ringtones as well.
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