Premium text number scams.

[Bigmac]

I've been getting extra charges on both of my Orange mobile phone accounts from a premium number 84459. These are my parents phones and they say they have never received any texts yet I'm still being charged for them. I've sent STOP to this number in the past but the charges still keep coming.

Does anyone know if Orange can block these numbers and hopefully get me a refund or have any other ideas I can try? Anyone else had this problem before?

It's never happened to me on my Vodafone contract but when I create 2 orange accounts for my parents the scams flow in.

 

[Tom]

http://www.velti.co.uk/

I've never had it happen to me but a quick internet search shows many people with the same problem. It may be some form of competition your parents have entered, or it may be the case that their numbers have been recycled and the previous user had entered such a competition.

Try these people:

http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/

By the way, if your messaging software blacklists those numbers, they won't appear in the messages list but they're still being sent to the phone.

 

[Bigmac]

Well that's a first, rung Orange and it was all sorted in 10 minutes. They're going to refund the charges as they knew my parents don't use their phones much and knew they were being scammed. I've text STOP to the number and got a reply acknowledging it. Here's to hoping it doesn't happen again for a third time.

They don't enter competitions and their phones they use are a very old nokia model so I doubt it even has a blacklist option. The phones can't even connect to the internet so no idea how they got their numbers.

 

[Aada]

Hmm your dad has been up to no good late at night I'd say.

 

[Lamp]

A helpline has been set up. Anyone caught out by these premium rate number scams should call 084459 636....