Cell Phone Scam Alert!
Sorry this is so long, but it really happened to me and I want to warn everyone I can. - ShowMama
My cell bill this month was about $20.00 higher than usual, so I thought I'd check our usage. There were two charges on my bill for $9.99 each for "monthly subscriptions". One was for "entertainment alerts" and the other was for "love genie tips alerts". One of the charges was made in February only, but the other one had been charged in January and February, so I had already lost another $9.99 that I hadn't noticed. I had never authorized a subscription to either of these services, but I did remember receiving text messages from those services which I thought were just random texts. So, I looked into how these charges could have been placed on my phone bill.
When these texts came into my phone, I was unable to tell who they were from so I opened them. When I saw what they were, I just deleted the message. Now, what I have found out is that when you receive one of these texts, you have to reply with the word "stop" or "decline" or something, within 24 hours or they will place a charge on your phone, hence my two "subscriptions". I had no way of knowing about replying to stop the charges, and this really happened without any authorization from me. How dare they do such a thing!!!! But they did!
I looked on line and found a website for "love genie tips" and a phone number was provided. I called that number and reached a third-party service for un-subscribing. When I told him I wanted to stop the subscription and also get a refund on my charges, I was given no opposition whatsoever. With my cell phone number he could look in his system and see that I had been charged twice for this service. He un-subscribed me and told me that a refund check for both charges would be mailed to me within one week. All I had to do was give him my address. That simple. I'm sure this scammer offered the refund and un-subscribing so readily to prevent any legal action, knowing what they were doing is wrong.
The other service had a website actually listed on my bill, but it was not a working site when I tried to find it. Searching on line only lead me to sites where people have complained about being scammed on their phone bills. So, I called my carrier, AT&T, and asked for their help. The AT&T rep was able to stop the "subscription" and will also give me a refund for the one charge that was made to my bill in February (but they can only go back 60 days, so I lucked out). She also told me about a FREE service to block purchases through my cell phone number. This has to be placed on my number by AT&T and they will issue me a PIN number that must be used if I ever do want to make a purchase of any type over my phone. I don't actually do any shopping with my phone, but I know a lot of people do. It might be a pain to remember that PIN number if you want to make a purchase over the phone, but at least no purchases (or subscriptions) can be charged to your phone without that number. You can bet I'm having that service added.
This sort of thing makes me SO ANGRY! To think that someone has the ability to send a text to my phone number and then start charging me a monthly fee just because I don't respond is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever come across. This is somewhat like those book clubs where you will be sent the next month's selection if you don't cancel it, but at least on those you have to initiate the books being sent in the first place. Here, you don't have to do anything except have a cell phone. No initiation, no request, no nothing!
I was lucky enough to catch it and stop it before it got worse, and hopefully will receive the refunds I've been promised. So, please check your bills to see if you have received this kind of text messages and make sure you aren't being scammed too.