Always double-check your phone bills

The guy who wrote the article below is both right and wrong. His advice to check your bills is certainly right and I was indeed a sinner in that regard. The bills were not notably excessive so I just let payment go through for nearly a year.

His explanation that the fraudulent "Premium" charges originated with a previous owner of his number is probably wrong, however. I suspect that he has been suckered by that explanation. I had my number for years before these charges started popping up.

The real source of the scam lies, I suspect, in the many internet advertisements that offer to tell you the name of your ideal lover (etc.). If you respond to such an ad, you get given a number to ring. And when you do that they "capture" your number and use your call as an alleged agreement to take a useless "service".

My trouble was with Vodafone and the guy below is with "3". Are they one and the same? I think they are.

Anyway, nobody at Voda wanted to hear anything from me at all despite the numerous approaches I made. All the extra calls are too profitable for them to want to stop it. They did refund my money fairly promptly once I complained to TIO but would not discuss one thing about how the scam came about


Last month I signed up for a mobile broadband account with 3. I just got the first bill, which should only be for $20, but instead it was for $90. I was sure I hadn't exceeded my 1GB download cap. Scrolling through the bill revealed $70 worth of Premium SMS charges for services I never signed up for.

Every wireless broadband modem that connects to the mobile phone network contains a SIM card. This SIM card is allocated a mobile phone number, even if you never use it to make calls. The phone number might have previously belonged to someone else, so you need to keep on eye on your bill to make sure you're not accidentally charged for phone-related services.

It seems the doofus who previously had my number was dumb enough to subscribe to Premium SMS services. They were charging this poor sucker $5 every time they sent him a "Text & Win Trivia" SMS and some other rubbish. Unless he checked his bill carefully he may not have even known he was paying for this crap.

A quick Google search uncovered a recent discussion at Whirlpool with the subject Where did my money go?. It seems other people have had the same problem, although they've had different experiences when it comes to getting the issue resolved.

First I rang 3, who said I needed to ring the Premium SMS service. Studying my bill closely I realised I was receiving messages from two different services, "Netsize - Content Subscription" and "Dialect - Text & Win Trivia".

When I rang Netsize and explained the situation, they checked their records and acknowledged that my number was subscribed to the service last year, well before I signed up with 3. If I fax them a copy of my contract with 3 they'll send me a refund cheque. Dialect wasn't quite as helpful, admitting the subscription began last year but saying they'll look into it and notify me if I'm "eligible" for a refund. The poor call centre operator had trouble getting her head around the fact the number is now allocated to a USB modem and not a mobile phone.

If my money doesn't show up, my next call will be to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

There are two lessons to be learned here. Firstly, if you're dumb enough to subscribe to Premium SMS services they'll bleed you dry. Secondly, always double-check your bills.

Posted by Adam Turner

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