Phone msg Scam: CREDIT

geffkane

Josh
.............
Just as an aside, it is important to note the difference between network provider, service provider and information provider - confusion will lead you to understand that JJ Trading were at fault whereas JJ Trading provided the send mechanism to another 3rd party information provider (who ultimately got fined! )



not quite true. not everybody can send premium sms texts. only service providers like Zamano and Tanla who have contracts with network providers such as Vodafone, O2 etc. and are licenced to do so by the government. Although some blame must go the network providers for facilitating the sending of the texts and the information providers, it is the service providers that have an obligation to exercise diligence in respect of who they send texts for and to act legally.

e.g Ali Badwan in the Caribeen buys a list of mobile numbers from a contact who works on "You're a star" He then contacts Zamano at their irish government provided offices and they agree for a mutually agreed fee to send premium reverse billed texts to the numbers on the list on behalf of his company Scumbagscammers . Vodafone then sends the texts on Zamanos behalf. Victims of this (theoretically totally illegal) scam will have no luck if they try to contact Scumbagscammers at a PO Box in the Dominician Republic. If they contact Vodafone, they will say that Zamano is responsible. However they may refund in individual cases although they will call it "a goodwill gesture". Zamano if contacted might say that Scumbagscammers are responsible but may refund in individual cases. Regtel if contacted may ask Zamano to issue a refund in individual cases (although such a request will likely be ignored ) but they will take no action to stop other mobile users from being targeted in this manner.

geffkane

interseting article on the BBC on one of Zamanos victims.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7480000/newsid_7481800/7481854.stm

Bozacke

I received several premium rate unsolicited text messages from a company called Zamano (57030). The texts received were not only unsolicited, but also incoherent. I received several of these texts, but because they were incoherent I was unaware that they were premium rate text messages. I have since sent them a text at my own expense requesting them to stop this service and I received a text confirming the termination of their service, but I am down almost €40 credit due to these unsolicited and illegal messages!

I have since contacted Regtel who told me the company was Zamano and after several calss and emails to regtel I finally received a call from Zamano. They said the Texts came from one of their partners named Blinck and they would investigate it and get back to me.

I just received a letter from Zamano\Blinck claiming that someone entered my mobile number on their website at www.celldorado.com and they then texted me back a pin code that was then entered into their website to activate the services and therefore they are refusing to refund me. They also state that their website lists the WAP phones that are compatible and basically it's not their fault if I received messages that to me appeared to be jibberish.

I certainly never entered my number on any website and since it's a relatively new phone I have saved all text messages and their is none that contains a pin number. I am challenging their statement and I want to see proof of such a transaction, but although I am certain there isn't any, it's seems unlikely they will provide me with a refund.

I have since gone to this website and I not only never went there before I can't understand whay anyone would want to pay €15/week for ringtones! This just seems crazy!!

I also find it disturbing that my Network Operator – Vodafone has informed me that I cannot bar Premium Rate Services from my mobile phone. I guess they also enjoy the money they make off of these scams too much.

I refuse to let this go, I see this as no different as someone pointing a gun at me and taking €40 from me. Meanwhile regtel seems totally useless and I would like to see them refuse licenses to scams like this, but as said before, they seem to enjoy the money too much.

Sponge Bob

Bozacke wrote: »

I refuse to let this go, I see this as no different as someone pointing a gun at me and taking €40 from me. Meanwhile regtel seems totally useless and I would like to see them refuse licenses to scams like this, but as said before, they seem to enjoy the money too much.

Comreg are useless or criminally compliant
Regtel are useless or criminally compliant

Ireland is a great country all right, PM me if you want advice on how to deal with those cúnts ( I mean Comreg and Regtel the Fraud Enablers) !!

Danno

Group of lads, ballaclavas, hiace van, baseball bats, digital hub, office, smash computers... just a load of jibberish really!

Sizzler

My mum got a random text the other week for some singles chat service so complained to the data protection commissioner saying it was a SPAM message that she hadnt agreed to. They came back a fortnight later to tell her the company said her number has been used to dial into their services back in March lol. Cue her going back and explaining and nice as it sounds it wouldnt be her thing and they got it wrong. DPC now gone back to the service provider AGAIN to query.

What really gets me is the basis of their excuse to SPAM someone is if they ring a number then its OK to syphon off that CLI and use it at a random later date of their choosing :rolleyes: If I ring 11811 to find out the name of a local restaurant I dont expect to get an SMS 6 months later advertising restaurants. Even the DPC dont seem to think this is wrong, what chance have you got !

Fighting Irish

Not really a scam, more like smart people taking money off stupid people.

conner

Fighting Irish wrote:

Not really a scam

correct, its a case of simple theft really.

Fighting Irish wrote:

more like smart people taking money off stupid people

oh dear...and there was me thinking how clever you were

the_syco

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Not really a scam, more like smart people taking money off stupid people.

So... they add you to a list even though you never gave your number to them, they refuse to stop sending SMS to you, and this means you are stupid?

krudler

geffkane wrote: »

Josh
.............
Just as an aside, it is important to note the difference between network provider, service provider and information provider - confusion will lead you to understand that JJ Trading were at fault whereas JJ Trading provided the send mechanism to another 3rd party information provider (who ultimately got fined! )



not quite true. not everybody can send premium sms texts. only service providers like Zamano and Tanla who have contracts with network providers such as Vodafone, O2 etc. and are licenced to do so by the government. Although some blame must go the network providers for facilitating the sending of the texts and the information providers, it is the service providers that have an obligation to exercise diligence in respect of who they send texts for and to act legally.

the networks cant refuse a contract to a premium company who have been licensed by the government

Bozacke

Thanks for all the replies and PMs. Anyway, I sent off a few emails and phone calls to Zamano and Comreg. Zamano initially claimed that I entered my phone number on a blinck web page and they texted me back a pin which I entered on the web page. This was a lie and I asked them to provide proof. Anyway, last week I received a check in the post from Zamano. You have to wonder how many people they pull this scam on who don't fight back and don't get their money back. I'm happy that I got my money back, but it's not over, since I am now contacting Comreg requesting them to rescind Zamano's license for scams like this.

Davy

Nice result! Did you get all the money back?

Gillo

Here's there contact details.

The also boast on their site that a Deloitte Technology Fast Award. In fairness to Deloitte, Zamano aren't connect to them, but no harm complaining to them about the "underhand practices".

Fighting Irish

the_syco wrote: »

So... they add you to a list even though you never gave your number to them, they refuse to stop sending SMS to you, and this means you are stupid?

Not realising it is probably a scam she replied

.

Bozacke

Since Vodafone couldn't give me a detailed list of charges for my pay as you go phone I don't know if I got all the money back, but it's pretty close, give or take a euro or two.

Interesting is that with O2 you can download a spreadsheet in Excel format with all of your calls and charges, but Vodafone doesn't seem to have this facility and they couldn't even give me the call charges.

MullingarMan

Hi all,
I was fleeced of €7.50 by Celldorado yesterday. I would really like to do something to stop this kind of commerical activity.

Thoie

I was hit in May 2008, and after a few days of scrabbling around between the company and Regtel, finally found an email address and sent the following letter, cc'ing Regtel at the same time:

<snip personal details and some other info>... [FONT=&quot]message received at 15:23. I unsubscribed the same day approx one minute later, and received the message “You have been stopped from the xxxx service and will not receive any more premium messages” at 15:24. Four days later I suddenly received a premium rate message from 5xxxx, another number registered to your company.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have not signed up to 5xxxx, yet am receiving expensive texts from that number to mobile <my mobile #>. Please remove all of my details from any systems that you own/operate. Please explain how my mobile number was subscribed to your services without my request or permission. You should also provide me with the date and time that is on your records of my mobile telephone having subscribed to the service. You do not have my permission to use my contact details for any purpose other than a reply to this email to: [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]- confirm that my details have been removed,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]- all charges refunded to my Vodafone account, [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]- the date and time on your records of when my mobile purportedly subscribed to 5xxxx, and[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]- an explanation of how/why my mobile number was passed on to another area of your business in contravention of the Data Protection Act[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Details of messages received below:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]From 5xxxx, 17/05/2008, 19:25[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]From 5xxxx, 21/05/2008, 18:13[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]From 5xxxx, 25/05/2008, 19:23[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have not sent a stop message to this number, as it appears that doing so just passes my mobile number to another unwanted service.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The response I received back (very promptly, looking at the timestamps on the mails) was:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On reviewing your history I agree that you did in fact stop the service after your first free play. However due to a technical error when you refreshed the landing page the service was re subscribed to your phone.

We deeply regret any inconvenience this may have caused you and wish to refund you in full for the deductions made to your phone account in error. Please provide a postal address in order for a refund cheque to be sent out to you.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There were a few things wrong with the facts in that mail (there had been no website, etc.), which I pointed out to them. This all took place shortly after the earthquake in China so rather than give them my address, we arranged that they would make a payment to the Red Cross in my name instead, which they did very promptly.
[/FONT]

MullingarMan

I phoned Celldorado and requested to stop/reverse any charge request from my account with O2. They said they couldn't do this.
I then contacted O2. They said they couldn't block any request for such charges. They said that it was my responsibility to use my phone as I saw fit.
The odd thing is that I never sent any message to Celldorado (or any of their other names) requesting any service etc. .
I've just had a look at Regtels "Code of Practice" - it would appear to indicate that their interpretation is that O2 (in my case) is the service provider even though they would say they are an intermediary.

Zamano is quoted on the Irish stock exchange.