A few comments taken from online forums
These comments are taken from the online forums. They are a very small, typical selection of the comments relating to these scams which arrive on an almost daily basis. They do show that these scams are really bad for the reputation of the mobile networks, and that the customer services departments of the networks spend a lot of time dealing with these issues.
——————————————–
Its all well and good that EE claim its a third party charging you BUT the charges are hidden as they are shown as other EE services !!! so its EE that are charging you .
Its not easy to see what the charges are for unless you query this with EE , if the charges were actually shown correctly it would be more obvious .
Do EE really think that customers do not believe that EE are being paid for providing this service ?
Looking at the number of complaints do EE really think that its not a scam ? why would anyone sign up for a premium service for recipes ?
Has anyone managed to get a refund from EE ?
———————————————————————————————–
Playmaniax took six unauthorised payments of £3.75 per week. I never looked at their web site, subscribed or provided them my details and phone number. It only happened after my Samsung phone was hijaked by some virus like pop-up screen from Playmaniax. The pop-up freezed up my phone and then I got their text saying that they will charge me weekly payment of £4.50. I had to do a re-set of my phone to get ride of the Playmaiax pop-up. I ignored the text message about the charge thinking if I replied to cancel, my phone will be infected with more virus.
Then one month later, they sent me another text saying they will charge me £4.50. I contacted EE and they blocked the charge but I cannot recover the unauthorised payments. I contacted Playmaniax through their online form and they didn’t reJust received the same text …. and I did NOT click on any link.
———————————————————————————————–
When I sent the STOP I was warned I will be billed for the STOP text… this is fking rediculous.
———————————————————————————————–
“Clicking a link” is a bullsh!t response anyway, it is not possible to match your mobile number to your IP address by simply clicking on a link….. this is FRAUD and involves EE or somebody inside EE
———————————————————————————————–
My conclusion:
There is no “link” , the “throw back scum” are simply using lists of mobile numbers and claiming you signed up knowing EE will play along. Any internet log proving you signed up will be a forgery.
There are various seperate threads for the same problem. Everybody needs to come together and lodge a class action against EE. It was EE who invoiced you, so the “contract” is between you and EE, nobody else.
Same Issue:
https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/My-bills/playmaniax-unauthorised-subscription/td-p/382273
https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/Texting-and-messaging/70012047-is-this-a-scam/td-p/524496
https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/My-bills/playmaniax-unauthorised-subscription/td-p/382273
———————————————————————————————-
EE Needs to wake up and protect their brand.
ply. I was advised by EE to contact Phone Paid Services Authority for help.
When Phone Paid Services Authority contacted Playmaniax. Playmaniax simply lied to the investigator and denied any record of any subscription by me even I got records of their six charges of £3.75 on my EE account and their text messages.
How is possible these criminals are allowed to steal openly behind people’s backs? Clearly they exploit a loophole in the system and rob people in broad daylight.
I have twice sunscribed to this by mistake and can only conclude it has happened whilst in my pocket! For this to happen they must have a very sneeky way of getting you subsbribed which does not involve a great deal of security, and then demanding a chargeable text message to stop, as Bruce says is ridiculous, this is a total scam and the company knows it, so coming on here to justify it it total BS, EE should be ashamed of allowing this to happen.
———————————————————————————————
Having just looked at my bill. I’ve also noticed this scam company PlayManiax along with BounceGames have been adding 2.99 and 1.50 to my account every week since April 2016. Yes I should have check me bill sooner but hey sometime you put to much trust in a shoddy operation.
——————————————————————————————–
These services started exact date my EE contract started. EE information me that this would have been transferred with my number however I never had any issues with Three network and would ever subscribe to a services like this. EE customer services informed me that alot of people enjoy these services… Sure they do, why would anyone not want to pay weekly for load of pre 1999 games.
———————————————————————————————–
That fact that EE allow this to happen in first place is border line criminal. But as they take a hefty percentage of the payment why wouldn’t they.
———————————————————————————————
Yes I got a text every week from these companies telling me about the subscribe anf how to unsubscribe but put it down to spam along with others we get. No one in their right mind would text back to stop a service they never even subscribed too.
—————————————————–
I would advice anyone using EE network to text BAR to 150 to avoid any premium rate charges.
——————————————————-
EE customer service was very helpful and cancelled this for me. Obviously well rehearsed in dealing with this. They could provide ZERO information about the company’s they kindly send my money to every week. She did inform me that the company has 60days to get in contact with me so I need to wait for this. She requested them to email me contact information so I can speak to them direct. Funny how you can request them contact me but have no contact information. Magical….
—————————————————–
Checking out these companies on companies House they seem to be ran by directors who dissolve companies like a rich tea biscuit in a cup of tea.
——————————————————
I would suggest anyone who has had dealings with these companies to report them to the Premium rate authority http://psauthority.org.uk unless you are a happy subscribe of course……
—————————————————
Same thing happened to me. I was billed three times at £2.99 and it showed up on EE bill. When I phoned EE and told them I had not subscribed nor had I clicked on any link; they said I must have…I did not. I am not happy about a third party Playmania billing me when I am unaware of it and EE not cancelling the bill,instead making me cancel.
I was sent a code to go to Post Office and show them the code and they would refund me the money. It took two trips to PO and that was all too time-consuming for something that was clearly not my fault. Also Playmania texted and said in order to cancel I had to text them with a number but DID NOT disclose how much i would get charged for that text.
Another thing: this company kept calling me but because I didn’t know who they were I saved their number as Arsehole 1, Arsehole 2 etc. Turns out they were unsolicited, never left a message and never told me who they were. That to me is blatant SPAM.
What is going on here EE? Are you in any way connected with this Company? Why are you making me do all the legwork in getting my money back?
It all stinks.
Answers……Waiting.
——————————————————–
Exactly the same thing has happened to me.
Spurious costings on the bill with no explanation – after quizzing EE they tell me it is a third party service that has come from a ‘recycled number’ but then it appears the service from the third party was subscribed to, six months AFTER I took the original EE subscription out!
Got the report from MPS, I daresay a very convenient forgery also.
But the icing on the cake is: – the SIM is in an Osprey mobile wifi device that has no means of subscription, viewing of content or acknowledgement!
EE have passed the buck to MPS who are taking it up with MobileMagic for a refund. We will see what happens. If no refund I’ll cancel all the business EE telephone acounts.
My Direct Debit goes out to EE, which I’m pretty sure, means they are billing me. Not MobileMagic.
———————————————
If I bought some milk from Tesco and it was off, I’d go back to Tesco for a refund, not the farmer or the cow.
———————————————-
Have been charged around £80 over a few month period by Playmaniax! Only happened when I enetered into a new contract this summer. As I also pay my daughters bill, EE amalgamated my 3 bills together so I guess I havent been on the ball in realising. What a pain in the a**e it is to try and get compensated! Its designed this way unfortunately so people give up and all parties benefit (except the consumer of course). There have been complaints about this dating back to 2015. It makes me very suspicious as to why EE hasnt reined in any company causing its customers problems? My first contract ends with EE this month and my last (broadband) in the summer. Wheels are already in motion for the 1st to go and ALL will be gone when the time is up. My advice would be go somewhere else for your services, but hey ho
————————————————–
Hi, I too have just found out that for the last 10 weeks i have been charged £2.08 per week for “extra charges” . It does not say what they are, but the weird thing is, it started during a period where my local mast was down, and i did not have a signal for my dongle for a couple of months.
As i have learnt, these charges are for services not part of EE, but i do not know what company is stealing my money, I have never signed up for anything or even sent a text, just internet browsing.
This is just outright fraud, and EE dont seem to take it seriously.
They said it was for streaming or something, but i dont have any details. I cant believe that this sort of thing can happen, how can i be charged for something i dont know anything about ?
————————————————–
I’ve been being charged a recurring amount of £1.25 a week for “other ee services” on my account. I’ve tried the app and the web but can’t get any information on what these extra charges are for, i am not aware of having subscribed to any services that would require such a charge. How do i find out what these charges are for and get them stopped?
————————————————–
The key question here is “How can giffgaff customers put a bar on ‘Payforit’ and other such services that can take money from users accounts without proper consent?”
There are many scammers who continue to abuse the system, charging numbers at random. It is not enough simply refunding customers who complain as for everyone who complains there are likely to be many more who just overlook the charge. It is theft, plain and simple. There needs to be a way to prevent such charges in the first place and this should be the default setting for all accounts.
—————————————————
I have just been scammed too. Shocked that giffgaff allows this. I may have to get brand new number now. In case i get texted again.Serious flaw . And looks like its been going on for years!!
—————————————————-
Got to say I totally agree with the opt in idea for premium rate services. I’ve not recieved anything like this as yet with gg and am going to contact an agent to get them blocked. I did have something similar happen when I was with t mobile but one phone call to them and they barred my number from sending to or recieving from these numbers. That was pre smart phones as well. So given the length of time this scam has been operating I’m a little suprised it has not been addressed. Obviuos theres a need for regulation in this case.
—————————————————
I had no idea I had subscribed to this “competition”. It did text me from 89365 to confirm my subscription and gave me the option to unsubscribe by texting STOP. I did this several times but each message was “Not Delivered”.
I have called O2 and had a moan and they gave me incorrect contact details for these people. I cannot believe that mobile phone operators and Ofcom can’t stop these guys.
Here’s waht I’ve done:
- Asked O2 to put a block on all third party billing/subscriptions to my number.
- Got the right number for “SocMan” which is 01567 380029 and cancelled my subscription. Not holding my breath though.
I do feel that mobile phone providers shouldn’t act as billing agents for third party suppliers, without verifying with customers first. Especially, if you can become a service user with one click on a Fb link or on an ad banner without realising.
———————————————
I think everyone would agree that better and stronger regulation is needed around these businesses.
31 minutes on O2 ‘chat’ where although the operator was obviously sympathetic and polite, she was unable to do anything except place a restriction on purchases on my phone account.
If they can’t operate a simple customer verification by text if they are collecting for third parties why can they not allow a setting on the phone account to never make phone purchases. If you want your phone account to be rifled you should have to opt in.
————————————————
Why can’t o2 or my phone just have an option to block all premium rate calls or an option to have a confirmation (warning) that I have to OK first. Without that we are just paying scammers and often unaware. It just happened to me with two scam charges, and I only noticed on a rare occasion that I checked my bill. o2 are doing little to help here – I assume because they make money out of these calls.
————————————————-
Not sure if this is the best place to post this. It may not be specific to BlackBerry devices, but this kind of scam has been running for a long time. This does NOT affect browsing over Wi-Fi.
A webpage which has ads inserted via an ad network could forcibly redirect to a webpage which immediately charges directly to your phone bill or debits your credit. Granted, most web ads and popups are harmless, but this kind of thing shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
This scam is operated by the “big 4” UK networks: EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three. It is facilitated by a backend service called “PayForIt” (external link) which can charge directly to a user’s phone bill or credit without any type of authorization.
When using PayForIt, a clear webpage should be shown informing the user that proceeding will result in a charge to the victim’s phone bill. This should also clearly show the amount which will be charged. Scammers take advantage of this system by disguising the proceed button as another element such as an invisible button covering the whole page, so that clicking or tapping anywhere will result in a charge being made. All they have to do now is simply hide the PayForIt confirmation elements behind other webpage elements, so that they aren’t visible.
However, now it seems that crooks are including Javascript code which will automaticlly activate the proceed button without any user intervention, causing victims to get charged, simply for landing on a maliciously crafted webpage. This usually happens on a Friday night, and I’ll explain why later.
I have been duped by this scam. It has happened before, but that was only a one-off charge so I let it slide. I called my operator, and requested that a 0.00 spending limit to be placed on my account in the hopes of preventing this from happening again. They confirmed that this has been successfully applied, and will be effective immediately. But this didn’t seem to mean anything, because it happened again anyway, completely bypassing the 0.00 spending limit on my account.
———————————————-
I’d also like to formally declare as a Three customer that these services and companies are rogue. I request as a duty of care to myself and other “Three” customers that “Three” look into this as soon as possible and do their utmost to block all services from them and their subsidiaries and individuals connected to them, on all the UK telecommunication networks.
I have been stung twice with this and there was literally nothing I could do. So basically now I never buy airtime credit and only use a goody bag as you will find that its very difficult to stop company sending you a message and then charging you for it…..basically a scam like you say.
————————————————
Hi, let me start the story by telling you i have never subscribed to any mobile service.
A couple of weeks ago I received a text advising I have subscribed to a service and its going to charge my bill £4.50 a week. I was busy with Xmas stuff at the time and as I’m certain this had to be a mistake I ignored the text, I received an identical text a week later and when I got this one I logged into my 3 account and there are two charges of £4.50 sitting on my current bill.
Has anyone heard of this scam before and if so any advice will be helpful, thanks guys.
—————————————————
My friend had the same problem. You have to reply STOP to the text but she did get the money back via her network provider but it was a battle and time consuming. She didn’t subscribe to anything either apparently if you don’t reply STOP to the text that counts as subscripting.
————————————————-
My elderly parents had this on their phone bill and it turned out to be a competition. Apparantly mum had clicked from a banner that popped up on the computer telling her about a competition at Tesco and she had won and to enter her phone number and unbeknown to her she had subscribed to weekly competitions. They were able to say exactly what time and date it had happened but as mum had been on Tesco website the same day she just thought it was linked and didn’t realise it was a scam. Over £30 before we realised….
——————————————–
I had this on Three too. Again not porn related but I had clicked on a page and subscribed when I missed the X to close the page (should be a law against them using the whole page as a subscription button).
I rang Three who phoned these people and let me talk to then to demand repayment (Three wanted to listen to the conversation -I imagine they get a lot of complaints about this). I got a cheque three weeks later. Then go to your settings and select the option to restrict payments outside your bill.
———————————————–
I had a simular issue. I started getting messages and saying I was going to be charged, at first I ignored them thinking nothing of it until my next bill came through and I had been charged. So I sent the ‘STOP’ message back to stop the subscription. Googled the company and gave them a call, they was helpful and sent out a cheque to me to reimburse me for the charges.
I was told that anyone can sign you up if they had your mobile number which I thought was berserk, because I advertise items online with my mobile number available to the public I assumed it was someone having a laugh or didn’t like a response I had made – I sell items online quite often and have experienced some very strange texts over the years.
My operator (Virgin) would not help whatsoever and I had not visited any untoward site.
EDIT: To add, Virgin told me there was no way to stop this and were very unhelpful. That is the only time I’ve had a bad experience with them but none the less I was disappointed.
What I’d like to know, when you “inadvertently ” sign up to this “service”, what “service” other than a text message do you actually get?
The law makers are dragging their heels on these “services”.
—————————————————-
