Zamano

Father Dougal

How can these shower of ba*tar*s get away with <SNIP> from people.
On Sunday the 1st of January 2012, I was checking out the football scores on the BBC web site via my mobile phone. I accidently hit an add on the bottom of the phone. Within seconds I received 4 or 5 messages telling me that I had signed up to a Club Chat and it would cost me 4x2.50 per week. I immediately text stop back to 57030.
At no time had I ever wished or never in the future shall I ever wish to avail of this service. I was charged 5.15.
I found it was out its a company called Zamano, how the fu*k is this legal. If I was walking down the road and I stumbled against an ad in a bus shelter, does that mean i purchased the product in the ad. A bunch of <SNIP>

dudara

I would register a complaint with Comreg (Phonesmart.ie). Their business practices are not to my personal taste, but how they operate is currently legal.

Until enough pressure is applied to the regulators, nothing will be changed.

Any Double !

Saw old thread on Boards with same number and noted latest above happened to somebody yesterday. Well its just happened again now to me. As I just got the same mssge's from the bas**rds.
Wasn't even using my phone at the time. It was off in my pocket while I was driving !! As soon as I could I immediately texted stop too to 57030.

First mssge 11.13pm from a number 57030 ..... saying "AUDITION ALERTS" click on link www.mobxs.tv which I didn't and saying MTL and a phone number 0818300048

Second mssge 11.15pm This time not from a number but just said "Auditions" as where it had come from .... saying I had subscribed to Audition alerts for a sign up fee of E2.50 x 2. I then texed STOP to 57030.

Third mssge ... 00.28am This time from 8004 saying I had been unsubscribed from Audition Alerts and kindly thanking me for being a customer and hope you come back soon.

I guess I've been unsubscribed but its cost me E5 to do this. Terrible scam this !!
I phoned Vodafone and must have got the most unhelpful guy on their payroll. He had an asian accent and knew immediately what I was talking about because as soon as I mentioned 57030 he knew the companies name and ZAMANO and their phone number. However he said it was more or less tough luck and nothing Voda could or would do about it. Wouldn't report it for me or explain how they got it. He said I must've been on a website and clicked onto something, I said I didn't and hadn't used my phone for a couple of hours. He couldn't tell me if I was on some database or something.
Anyway just to warn anybody else out there that the <SNIP> is still alive and well.

Yobnned

I had this very same experience! I got a random text "You have subscribed to AuditionAlerts for signup fee of 2 X 2.5o euro and 4 X 2.50 euro per week. Helpline MTL 0818300048. To unsubscribe test stop to 57030." I rang Meteor - my servicde provider and didn't get much help. He said that if I text STOP to 57030, I will be unsubscribed. I explained that I did not subscribe in the first place, and that nobody has the authority to put money onto my bill in this unsolicited fashion. I texted STOP as instructed, then rang Zamango at 0818 300048 and told them that I did not subscribe to anything. They said that I must have clicked on a link somewhere, which subscribed me. The told me that I was now unsubscribed and would not recieve any more texts - but I told them that I would not have 5 euro taken from my account for allegedly subscribing. I then rang ComReg at 01-8049600 and explained my situation. They said to ring Zamano back and demand in writing, where I was supposed to have subscribed, and ask them how soon I would have this info. I did this - giving them my home address and today - 5 days later, I recieved a cheque for 5 euro and the letter in the link below. The only app that I have on my phone is a TV3 Weather app, and this seems to produce a amall banner ad at the top. I am currently investigating this, and also I am going to get back to Zamano, requesting the origin of this subscription so that nobody else can get ripped off in this manner. As somebody else said, accidently hitting an advert link on the web and being charged is like rubbing up against an ad in a bus shelter and having to pay for it. I will update this post when I have more reaction from Zamano re the explanation. See letter below.

http://myhome.iol.ie/~denishughes/zamano.gif

foggy_lad

Their letter states you are being refunded for "costs incurred while using one of the Premium Rate SMS services provisioned on our platform". They are not being honest here as you have told them you did not "use" their services so there was no cost incurred by you only a charge applied by them!

Yobnned

I have requested a letter explaining what link provided them with permission to "subscribe" me to this scam. Will post it as soon as I recieve a reply.

BrianD

Personally I don't believe that Zamano are at fault here and pressure needs to be brought to near on the mobile operators.

Zamano should be allowed to run premium services for those who want to sign up for them voluntarily.

Obviously this is not happening with mobile adverts that are being served on certain platform.

How can and advert be served that can have access to your phone number and effectively allow a "one click" subscription to a service. This has to be facilitated by the mobile operator.

It would be useful if the OP advised what phone network he/she is on?

foggy_lad

BrianD wrote: »

Personally I don't believe that Zamano are at fault here and pressure needs to be brought to near on the mobile operators.

Zamano should be allowed to run premium services for those who want to sign up for them voluntarily.

Obviously this is not happening with mobile adverts that are being served on certain platform.

How can and advert be served that can have access to your phone number and effectively allow a "one click" subscription to a service. This has to be facilitated by the mobile operator.

It would be useful if the OP advised what phone network he/she is on?

We also have to remember that your network operator gets the lions share of any subscription charge deducted from your account as well as any charges for standard rate texts. Even Charity text promotions are not exempt from their greed with more than €1 from each €2 "donate" text going to the network plus the 9-13cent for the text!

noodler

BrianD wrote: »

Personally I don't believe that Zamano are at fault here and pressure needs to be brought to near on the mobile operators.

Zamano should be allowed to run premium services for those who want to sign up for them voluntarily.

Obviously this is not happening with mobile adverts that are being served on certain platform.

How can and advert be served that can have access to your phone number and effectively allow a "one click" subscription to a service. This has to be facilitated by the mobile operator.

It would be useful if the OP advised what phone network he/she is on?

I personally believe that their ability to operate in this country should be suspended pending an investiagtion into:

1) Their activities whereby a mobile phone owner can be part of their subscription service without actually signing up for anything (I was getting Horoscope readings regularly at one stage)

2) Their advertising methods should be completely overhauled. If a significant number of people are making the "mistake" then it is time to evaluate whether or not the adverts are misleading.

BrianD

noodler wrote: »

I personally believe that their ability to operate in this country should be suspended pending an investiagtion into:

1) Their activities whereby a mobile phone owner can be part of their subscription service without actually signing up for anything (I was getting Horoscope readings regularly at one stage)

2) Their advertising methods should be completely overhauled. If a significant number of people are making the "mistake" then it is time to evaluate whether or not the adverts are misleading.

You've missed the point - how can you sign up to a service that requires access to your phone number? I have not granted a permission to the advertisement to access my personal data including my phone number.

There is a transfer of data that is facilitated by somebody and I presume it;s the operator. The only other scenario is that the mobile site that the ad is served on is allowing malicious code to be served up.

Zamano should be allowed to advertise and I should be allowed to view and read their adverts without be signed up to a service.

RangeR

BrianD wrote: »

You've missed the point - how can you sign up to a service that requires access to your phone number? I have not granted a permission to the advertisement to access my personal data including my phone number.

There is a transfer of data that is facilitated by somebody and I presume it;s the operator. The only other scenario is that the mobile site that the ad is served on is allowing malicious code to be served up.

Zamano should be allowed to advertise and I should be allowed to view and read their adverts without be signed up to a service.

It's the advertisement/app, not the operator. ComReg is your route.
Some background.

noodler

BrianD wrote: »

You've missed the point - how can you sign up to a service that requires access to your phone number? I have not granted a permission to the advertisement to access my personal data including my phone number.

There is a transfer of data that is facilitated by somebody and I presume it;s the operator. The only other scenario is that the mobile site that the ad is served on is allowing malicious code to be served up.

Zamano should be allowed to advertise and I should be allowed to view and read their adverts without be signed up to a service.

I am not missing any point.

They are clearly using the number of people who haven't signed up for any service.

How they are getting them is of some concern, whether it be random number generators, googling or what have you but the greater concern is that they are using numbers from users who haven't signed up for anything (or even used their services).

I personally think their adverts go against the spirit of the advertising standards and should be banned until they are made more transparent.

BrianD

noodler wrote: »

I am not missing any point.

You kinda our but I'm on your side!

I recall reading some where that some operators facilitate the transfer your number to third party advertisers. As a result they can then use your number to sign you up.

I can't source this but perhaps somebody else might be able to.

They are clearly using the number of people who haven't signed up for any service.

RangeR

BrianD wrote: »

You kinda our but I'm on your side!

I recall reading some where that some operators facilitate the transfer your number to third party advertisers. As a result they can then use your number to sign you up.

I can't source this but perhaps somebody else might be able to.

They are clearly using the number of people who haven't signed up for any service.

Well, there are many reports on boards in the past month or two of just clicking on ads on smart phones, that signs them up without verification. I too fell foul to this a month or so ago. I accidentally clicked on an advertisement. Within 2 minutes I had 4 premium SMS in my inbox before I could SMS STOP.

This was not the operator.

edanto

I would focus on the websites where the ads were, as well as complaining in writing (not email) to ComReg.

It's fairly shonky that they can do it and we'll probably see more and more of them if they can get a quick fiver here and there by people just clicking on ads on their phones..

A buddy of mine is a tabloid journo and they might like this story. Anyone have any screenshots of the ads in question?

BrianD

RangeR wrote: »

Well, there are many reports on boards in the past month or two of just clicking on ads on smart phones, that signs them up without verification. I too fell foul to this a month or so ago. I accidentally clicked on an advertisement. Within 2 minutes I had 4 premium SMS in my inbox before I could SMS STOP.

This was not the operator.

There was a indication that some of these adverts were on the homepages of the mobile operator.

There has to be a mechanic that "on click" that your number is accessed and used to start a sequence of texts that you are charged for.

So either there is a deal in place with the operator that allows the transfer of the number to the advertiser or when you click on the ad a piece of code is downloaded (reminds me of auto diallers from years back).

"Anti virus" protection for your phone is not something that people think of and people aren't educated on how they could prevent this happening (if it can be). Nor would it be reasonably assumed that when I click on a banner site to view an advert that I am effectively placing an order for that service.

So it would be useful to name the sites that people have experienced these types of adverts on, who your operator is and whether you are bill pay or PAYG.

This post and the thread on boards is worth a read (note the official responses from the mobile co)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=70465049&postcount=45

RangeR

BrianD wrote: »

There was a indication that some of these adverts were on the homepages of the mobile operator.

Fair enough, I didn't see that. The ones I was talking about could be isolated down to a specific app [iOS or Android, I@m not sure but it was only weeks ago].

In fairness, whether it's an operator or App or whatever, they just "host" ads from an ad provider. They don't know what ads are displayed.

BrianD

There are plenty of apps with ads in them. How are they getting your number?

One possible way is through the permissions that apps request. Worth checking what permissions are requested.

It gets complicated if the app is using a mobile advertising network that has these deals in place with a network.

RangeR

BrianD wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=70465049&postcount=45

Holy **** :eek:

dudara

Posters, I need to temporarily lock this thread, while we (Boards admins and others) look into several reported posts.

We will update when we can.

dudara