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-   -   Text message scam (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/text-message-scam-681863/)

jimenato Aug 19th 2010 10:13 am
Text message scam
 
We have just received a bill from Orange that contains 93 incoming text messages charged at 30 cents each.

Mrs. Jimenata's phone has been jingling away a few times every morning and showing us a "nothing" message. It appears to be linked to a website she went on a month or so ago - something about getting a new 'phone.

The lines on the bill look like this:

797271 Servicio de suscripcion NVIASMS B83069401 SMS time 0,3000
If you google search on this data it takes you to a forum where every post is people requesting to stop this and wanting their money back - it is very obviously a scam.

I have sent the following email to nviasms.com - I will let you know how I get on.

Hoy he recibido una factura de Orange que contiene 93 mensajes cada cobran a 30 céntimos.

Los mensajes tienen las siguientes características:

797271 Servicio de suscripcion NVIASMS B83069401 SMS tiempo 0,3000

¿Por qué recibo de estos mensajes que no quiero y no han pedido? A veces hay 6 en un día.Es ridículo!

Por favor, dejen de inmediato y devolver la totalidad del dinero - 27,9000 hasta el momento y posiblemente aún más.

Mi número de teléfono es xxxxxxxxx

Por favor reconozca este mensaje

Gracias

Mrs Jimenata



I have today received a bill from Orange which contains 93 messages each charged at 30 centimos.

The messages have the characteristics:

797271 Servicio de suscripcion NVIASMS B83069401 SMS time 0,3000

Why am I receiving these messages which I do not want and have not asked for? Sometimes there are 6 in one day. It is ridiculous!

Please stop this immediately and refund all of the money - 27,9000 so far and possibly even more.

My telephone number is xxxxxxxxx

Please acknowledge this email

Thank you

Mrs Jimenata
Has anyone else had this? What else do you think I should do?

Mitzyboy Aug 19th 2010 10:18 am
Re: Text message scam
 
She didnt sign up to receive a newsletter or anything did she?

It is a scam that I have heard of in the UK for sure ...... the companies often claim that you signed up for something

lynnxa Aug 19th 2010 10:22 am
Re: Text message scam
 
Originally Posted by Mitzyboy (Post 8787550)
She didnt sign up to receive a newsletter or anything did she?

It is a scam that I have heard of in the UK for sure ...... the companies often claim that you signed up for something
it's quite possible that she did by accident


there are loads of things like this on Facebook - you 'like' something - do some kind of quiz - then it asks for a mobile number 'just for confirmation' & hey presto you get text which costs 3 euros!!


I was caught once - luckily was able to 'baja' immediately so only got the one

missile Aug 19th 2010 10:22 am
Re: Text message scam
 
I have not heard of this, but several similar scams where you give your mobile number on a website and in the small print attached to very long winded T&Cs it states I agree to receive e mails etc. It can be very difficult to get the money back. Some mobile operators have a facility where you can block calls from unwanted numbers.

You are fortunate it is only texts @ 30 cents a pop. I do not understand
refund all of the money - 27,9000
Is that 27.90 €

jimenato Aug 19th 2010 10:34 am
Re: Text message scam
 
Originally Posted by missile (Post 8787557)
I have not heard of this, but several similar scams where you give your mobile number on a website and in the small print attached to very long winded T&Cs it states I agree to receive e mails etc. It can be very difficult to get the money back. Some mobile operators have a facility where you can block calls from unwanted numbers.

You are fortunate it is only texts @ 30 cents a pop. I do not understand Is that 27.90 €
Yes it's 27.90 (:eek:) could've been worse.

She probably did leave her number on the website therefore inadvertently signing up for something.

Is is obviously a complete scam - up to six texts per day that say !Descarga ya lo mejor para tu movil!

If it stops now OK but if it goes on...:frown:

missile Aug 19th 2010 10:37 am
Re: Text message scam
 
Originally Posted by jimenato (Post 8787596)
If it stops now OK but if it goes on...:frown:
I would turn the phone off and take out the SIM card, maybe ask your provider for a new number :unsure:

poolboy Aug 19th 2010 11:14 am
Re: Text message scam
 
I would go to yr local OMIC office & report the scam. It should stop them in their tracks as a OMIC report usually does.

Its the consumer rights lot & is free to use.

snikpoh Aug 19th 2010 12:03 pm
Re: Text message scam
 
There seem to be a number of companies in Spain who use this 'PUSH' technology.

My son had the same problem even though he hasn't given anyone his number!

Go in to your local Orange office and they can put a block on this number for you so that you should never get the same situation from this company. We had to do the same thing with Vodafone when my son had texts from a couple of different sources.


NOTE - it's even worse if your on PAYG. You don't even notice who's sending them then as you don't get a bill. The credit simply vanishes!

Veleta Aug 19th 2010 1:09 pm
Re: Text message scam
 
I had a similar problem whereby a 'robot' called my phone about 6 times a day and if I answered the call (which I only did once fortunately!) it got charged to my account.

I contacted Vodafone but apparantly it is not possible to 'block' and incoming call from just one specific number??? Sounded strange to me, but anyway. The problem was eventually solved another way.

snikpoh Aug 19th 2010 4:08 pm
Re: Text message scam
 
Originally Posted by Veleta (Post 8787935)
I had a similar problem whereby a 'robot' called my phone about 6 times a day and if I answered the call (which I only did once fortunately!) it got charged to my account.

I contacted Vodafone but apparantly it is not possible to 'block' and incoming call from just one specific number??? Sounded strange to me, but anyway. The problem was eventually solved another way.

Interesting as they did exactly that for us!

bfg69bug Aug 19th 2010 4:57 pm
Re: Text message scam
 
lol, just proves, its not what you know, but who you know, and what they know :D

Veleta Aug 19th 2010 6:22 pm
Re: Text message scam
 
Originally Posted by snikpoh (Post 8788200)
Interesting as they did exactly that for us!
I don't know the technicalities of it....my call was originating from Russia (or somewhere in that region)....apparantly that was the problem as they had no control over numbers originating from abroad.

Dick Dasterdly Aug 19th 2010 11:11 pm
Re: Text message scam
 
Originally Posted by jimenato (Post 8787536)
We have just received a bill from Orange that contains 93 incoming text messages charged at 30 cents each.

Mrs. Jimenata's phone has been jingling away a few times every morning and showing us a "nothing" message. It appears to be linked to a website she went on a month or so ago - something about getting a new 'phone.

The lines on the bill look like this:



If you google search on this data it takes you to a forum where every post is people requesting to stop this and wanting their money back - it is very obviously a scam.

I have sent the following email to nviasms.com - I will let you know how I get on.



Has anyone else had this? What else do you think I should do?
I am on Orange and I had about 8 weird texts coming in every day for two or three weeks, number withheld, did not appear to be addressed directly to me and seemed to be in some form of code or have a double meaning.
I contacted Orange and they told me to press the reply button then print in "STOPALL" in capitals and send it.
It worked and I wasn't bothered again.
I was in Sweden at the time last year,on "roaming", but never got round to checking my bills back in England.

jimenato Aug 20th 2010 10:56 am
Re: Text message scam
 
Originally Posted by Dick Dasterdly (Post 8788897)
I am on Orange and I had about 8 weird texts coming in every day for two or three weeks, number withheld, did not appear to be addressed directly to me and seemed to be in some form of code or have a double meaning.
I contacted Orange and they told me to press the reply button then print in "STOPALL" in capitals and send it.
It worked and I wasn't bothered again.
I was in Sweden at the time last year,on "roaming", but never got round to checking my bills back in England.
That sounds good - ours appear to have stopped but if they re-start I'll try it.

jimenato Aug 21st 2010 9:15 am
Re: Text message scam
 
No messages for two days - seems my email has done the trick

What a scam! No way you can know you are getting charged for anything till you get a bill six weeks after it starts.:frown:


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