Ringtone theft

by **heathen** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:03 am

Hey everyone,

I'm urging anyone who has ever bought ringtones, entered any competitions via sms on TV or any other sms products to check your bills, my partner has been ripped off by these scumbag thieves several times, every time she tops up her prepaid account the next day 5 or so sms messages arrive being charged at $5 a pop to empty her account.

I called the companies service desk, in the Phillipines of course and told them what I thought of them.

Then called V@#$fone and had a go at them for the 3rd time, finally they say they called these R^#$toneking f-wits on my girlfriends behalf and had her unsubscribed, hopefully.

All you have to do to subscribe is send an sms to TV competitions or the like and they subscribe you permanently at about $10 a week even if you don't download anything. This is theft and is misleading if you think it's only a one off sms competition.

I'm angry enough to ummmm, well lets just say whoever owns this company is lucky they are in another country!

Now, they the fone company know this is happening but refused to help the first couple of times, this time I informed the fone company that my partner used to work for one of the largest media companies in Australia and now works for a gov't investigation agency that we finally get somewhere in stopping these thieves, maybe.

So check your accounts and complain loudly if you've been ripped off, times are getting tougher and these f@#%ers are getting rich while they bleed you dry.

In reality it's not much money she lost, but I'm really angry about this. We are writing letters to anyone who'll listen this week.

Just make your own ringtones.

Do not under any circumstances sms r^#@gtoneking or any of thier affiliates unless you like being ripped off.

Grumpy, P'd off, getting angrier by the minute.
Heathen

by **TimS** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:42 am

here here...
however, I never use ringtones - i hate them!!!
A phone should sound like a phone!!

by **heathen** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:04 am

TimS wrote:here here...
however, I never use ringtones - i hate them!!!
A phone should sound like a phone!!

Exactly, yeah Tim I agree 100%, theres 100's of them built in these days.

Mobile phones cause brain cancer anyway. The AVM I had removed from my brain was right near where the antenna used to sit when talking on my old phone. I used to spend at least an hour a day on the thing, then at night it felt like my head had been irradiated. My surgeon said nah it's been there since birth, but I'm not so sure

Now I rarely use them, I hate the things. Will there be a huge increase in brain cancer in the community? Probably.

I'm not so old but farout, I miss the good ol days when a phone was a phone too.

by **TimS** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:24 am

yeah, when it had a squiggly cable attached to it - like the one in my office now!!!
there is a new study being released on mobile phones and pregnancy issues - i think its on the news this week sometime..
EMF's cant be good for you!!

by **Thirteen** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:49 am

Beware of phone numbers beginning with 190, and SMS/MMS messages beginning with 19, as these are charged at a premium rate. There are also missed call scams where they hang up quickly before you can answer, and when you call them back you are hooked up to a premium rate number... watch out for the above two prefixes. You can be charged up to $4.00 for ever message sent AND RECEIVED from 19 SMS numbers.

by **chris p** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:52 pm

My tween daughter got stung by this - called V'phone about it, who were spectacularly unhelpful - basically they said they couldn't just block just the 1900s, they would have to block SMS entirely. Managed to get her unsubscribed (mind you, the promised refund never arrived) and had a long father / daughter talk about scumbags and rip off merchants in general. Probably worth it for the education she received.

by **heathen** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:02 pm

Thirteen wrote:Beware of phone numbers beginning with 190, and SMS/MMS messages beginning with 19, as these are charged at a premium rate. There are also missed call scams where they hang up quickly before you can answer, and when you call them back you are hooked up to a premium rate number... watch out for the above two prefixes. You can be charged up to $4.00 for ever message sent AND RECEIVED from 19 SMS numbers.

That I reckon could be how my partner got stung.

These companies are scum.

by **heathen** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:19 pm

Seems to me as though nearly everyone has been ripped off, the guy at vfone told me there are only several companies who own all of these thieving 19 numbers.

Vfone should be fined for letting this happen to thier valuable customers, I'll have more info on these turds by tonight such as where/if thier Australian offices are located so I can bombard them with crap, like leaving 50kg's of great dane crap on thier expensive cars and doorstep and subscribing them to 50kg's of the above mentioned substance every week, hehe.

I would not be surprised to learn that the actual phone companies are shareholders.

Still angry, grrrrr.

by **heathen** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:36 pm

Anyone who has been ripped off should report it here even if it's only $1, it will only end when enough people complain.

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc= ... INTS_OVIEW

by **TimS** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:43 pm

Thirteen wrote:Beware of phone numbers beginning with 190, and SMS/MMS messages beginning with 19, as these are charged at a premium rate. There are also missed call scams where they hang up quickly before you can answer, and when you call them back you are hooked up to a premium rate number... watch out for the above two prefixes. You can be charged up to $4.00 for ever message sent AND RECEIVED from 19 SMS numbers.

I just had this happen to me last week, but it was an 07 number (Qld).
I just hung up but it was annoying as it went straight into a prerecorded message about some crap...
EDIT
Actually, I just looked through my phone log and found the number
I just called it back and it was hung up immediately..
Gotta be a scam going on somewhere!!

by **TimS** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:53 pm

heathen wrote:Anyone who has been ripped off should report it here even if it's only $1, it will only end when enough people complain.

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc= ... INTS_OVIEW

I actually submitted my spam mobile call complaint through this link Heath - hope they act upon it..

by **Cardboard Tube Samurai** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:58 pm

If you read the fineprint under the advertisement, it usually does tell you all of what you will be charged. You'd have to be pretty dumb to fall for it

by **Aearth** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:09 pm

Cardboard Tube Samurai wrote:If you read the fineprint under the advertisement, it usually does tell you all of what you will be charged. You'd have to be pretty dumb to fall for it

oops
Flame on............new guy aim for the red dot.

nIC

by **TimS** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:09 pm

Cardboard Tube Samurai wrote:If you read the fineprint under the advertisement, it usually does tell you all of what you will be charged. You'd have to be pretty dumb to fall for it

Hmm, I know this poster from another forum - does the same there too!!

by **chris p** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:25 pm

Cardboard Tube Samurai wrote:You'd have to be pretty dumb to fall for it

... and so its OK to rob dumb people, 'cause after all you can get away with it? Its pretty much their own fault, right? Oh, and add in the kids, the time poor, the less literate and those who fail to wade through 10 minutes of conditions being charged at a premium rate in order to find out just how ripped off they will be.

Sorry CTS, but that's all wrong. That is, I think I disagree.

by **heathen** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:09 am

Cardboard Tube Samurai wrote:If you read the fineprint under the advertisement, it usually does tell you all of what you will be charged. You'd have to be pretty dumb to fall for it

Yeah same as you'd have to be a moron just to get on forums to annoy people and call them names.

by **heathen** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:14 am

chris p wrote:
Cardboard Tube Samurai wrote:You'd have to be pretty dumb to fall for it

those who fail to wade through 10 minutes of conditions being charged at a premium rate in order to find out just how ripped off they will be.

Sorry CTS, but that's all wrong. That is, I think I disagree.

Some people must have nothing better to do with thier spare time than read fine print. It's not even in print on TV, it's a 3 second flash usually in minute letters which no one gets time to read.

by **heathen** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:15 am

Aearth wrote:
Cardboard Tube Samurai wrote:If you read the fineprint under the advertisement, it usually does tell you all of what you will be charged. You'd have to be pretty dumb to fall for it

oops
Flame on............new guy aim for the red dot.

nIC

:)

by **no-fi** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:44 am

there was a thing in the SMH about this the other day.

I think it's insane that by default, anyone's phone is setup so a company can charge you $4 to receive an SMS from them, each time they send you one... and the only way to disable that feature is to kill all SMS functionality.

I guess the phone companies get too much of a cut of that $4 to really want to do anything to limit it....

by **heathen** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:08 am

Hmmmm I missed that, thats where my partner used to work, she sent some of her contacts there a letter outlining what happened.

Hopefully they do a full story on it. It is a seriously a big scam netting obviously millions of bucks. Especially prepaid accounts, these should be considered as bank accounts really if they are holding your money in trust for future use, if banks acted this way and started emptying accounts on a large scale there would be hell to pay.

I can't walk into a V...fone store and just pick up a phone and leave without paying, we all know what would happen there, the cops would be there in 5 mins.

Been thinking about it but......... thought naaaah not worth it.

by **Thirteen** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:54 am

It's my understanding that under Australian consumer law, a telephone subscriber has to be able to know the cost or rate of a call before dialling. People do know this info, it is in the plan that they sign up for when they get their service. This is why, if your mobile phone has global roaming turned on, and you happen to be overseas, if someone from Australia calls your mobile number, they are charged standard national call rates, and you are charged for the international portion. If someone dials your mobile, they don't know if you are in the next suburb or in England, the call just connects, so by Australian law that only pay their normal mobile plan rate regardless of where the call ends up.

I would contend that these scams are illegal because you do not realize what you are being charged, and since your phone service provider takes a cut of this amount, they are directly breaking the law, in fact it is a form of collusion. You may not be able to bring Australian law against the scammers in the Philippines, but you can certainly bring it against the Aussie telcos. If it was me I would be logging onto the Ombudsman's website and filing a claim against the telco to refund the money as it was gained illegally.

by **Chinagraf** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:11 am

You could also lodge complaints with the advertising standards council about the size of the fine print and the amount of time it is on screen. I personally think that price disclaimers should have to be read by a voice over as well as printed.

by **heathen** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:15 pm

Chinagraf wrote:I personally think that price disclaimers should have to be read by a voice over as well as printed.

Great idea, that would really upset them, would be good to see that become law.

by **Chinagraf** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:18 pm

I'd love to see that become a law, and also one stating telemarketers have to show their phone number when calling. We've had an enormous increase in telemarketers calling home with thier number sending blocked so we can't tell who it is. Then they wonder why I'm being so rude when they call at 7.30 at night.....

by **Aearth** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:23 pm

Chinagraf wrote:I'd love to see that become a law, and also one stating telemarketers have to show their phone number when calling. We've had an enormous increase in telemarketers calling home with thier number sending blocked so we can't tell who it is. Then they wonder why I'm being so rude when they call at 7.30 at night.....

I don't say anything I just hang up.

nIC

by **Kris** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:55 pm

There are laws regarding TV disclaimers. Last time I had to check it was 4 frames per word and the font had to be a minimum 20 point size. PAL tv runs at 25 frames per second so that would be 6 words per second minimum screen time.

by **heathen** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:53 pm

Chinagraf wrote:I'd love to see that become a law, and also one stating telemarketers have to show their phone number when calling. We've had an enormous increase in telemarketers calling home with thier number sending blocked so we can't tell who it is. Then they wonder why I'm being so rude when they call at 7.30 at night.....

I say 1 second I'll just get them and just leave them waiting till they hang up, wasting thier time is a good way to mess with them.

by **bennyboy** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:21 pm

how to cost a tele marketing company a minimum of 125 dollars a night

made the mistake of giving out my home phone number once and got swamped with calls 30 a day

ask for there fax number

get 3 sheets of paper couloured paper with clear text dont call me

tape them together

send them a fax but as its feeding through tape the start of the fax to the end of the fax so it continualy feeds

now best case they have a fax with thermal paper wasting a roll a night (last time i cheked 125 dollars a roll) or best case its hooked up to there server system this will lock the baby up and they cant disconect either when they dis conect the cache just keeps building up costing thousands of dollars let along taking them off line

petty as it sounds it works and they get the message

by **no-fi** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:23 pm

heathen wrote:Hmmmm I missed that, thats where my partner used to work, she sent some of her contacts there a letter outlining what happened.

I'm trying to remember when it was....

maybe thursday last week?

I just read it in a cafe.

It had some case studies about different people getting hooked & skimmed.

by **Aearth** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:57 pm

heathen wrote:
Chinagraf wrote:I'd love to see that become a law, and also one stating telemarketers have to show their phone number when calling. We've had an enormous increase in telemarketers calling home with thier number sending blocked so we can't tell who it is. Then they wonder why I'm being so rude when they call at 7.30 at night.....

I say 1 second I'll just get them and just leave them waiting till they hang up, wasting thier time is a good way to mess with them.

I keep forgetting to do that one. Next time, can't wait.

nIC

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