84010 Reverse billing thieves

At 1121 today I received an unsolicited text from 84010 which said "Your B4U
voucher w/c 27/03 is MARSMS. Log onto www.B4Utele.com for discount credit.
To opt out reply stop. Customer care call 08717168 528

This text cost £1.50. I have never had dealings with your company so they
have effectively STOLEN the money. I have replied Stop. When I emailed them
the reply was:
Hi.

Thanks for your email.

We do not, under any circumstances send unsolicited text messages to any
individual/end user.

All of our data is collected and collated online via our websites and
services.

You may have used a service of ours, or one of the company's we are
affiliated with and entered in your mobile phone number at the time.

This could have been a long time ago.

Nevertheless the data still exists, if you wish I can delete your data and
ensure that you do not receive any future promotions from us whatsoever.

this will be done for you before the closing of today.

Thanks.



I never subscribe to anything like this so it is obviously a scam. How many
of these messages do they send at £1.50 a time (seems a bit of a money
spinner to me!!)

The company of thieves is:

B4U Telecom Ltd
90 Broad Street
Birmingham
West Midlands
B15 1AU

Just thought you all should be aware!

Tim

Tim Rogers wrote:

> At 1121 today I received an unsolicited text from 84010 which said "Your B4U
> voucher w/c 27/03 is MARSMS. Log onto www.B4Utele.com for discount credit.
> To opt out reply stop. Customer care call 08717168 528

> This text cost £1.50. I have never had dealings with your company so they
> have effectively STOLEN the money. I have replied Stop. When I emailed them
> the reply was:

[snip]

> I never subscribe to anything like this so it is obviously a scam. How many
> of these messages do they send at £1.50 a time (seems a bit of a money
> spinner to me!!)

> The company of thieves is:

> B4U Telecom Ltd
> 90 Broad Street
> Birmingham
> West Midlands
> B15 1AU

> Just thought you all should be aware!

We are quite aware. IMHO, any company that uses reverse charge SMS are
thieves. Some people on this NG (especially the ones employed by mobile
phone companies) are still in denial that this kind of behaviour
exists.

Lobby the phone companies to introduce reverse charge SMS barring (like
T-Mobile already does). Then we can stop these thieves from ripping us
off.

Tariq

"Tim Rogers" <sregoryimmt@com.btinternet> wrote in message
news:e0h5bt$5mqg$1@news3.infoave.net...
> At 1121 today I received an unsolicited text from 84010 which said "Your
> B4U voucher w/c 27/03 is MARSMS. Log onto www.B4Utele.com for discount
> credit. To opt out reply stop. Customer care call 08717168 528

Hmm, got one too at about 10.20. I just deleted it, but I did go to their
web site to see wtf it was all about, not that the site told me anything.

How d'ya know it cost £1.50?


--

J B

"J B" <jb@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:492tbnFmmrmdU1@individual.net...
> "Tim Rogers" <sregoryimmt@com.btinternet> wrote in message
> news:e0h5bt$5mqg$1@news3.infoave.net...
>> At 1121 today I received an unsolicited text from 84010 which said "Your
>> B4U voucher w/c 27/03 is MARSMS. Log onto www.B4Utele.com for discount
>> credit. To opt out reply stop. Customer care call 08717168 528
>
> Hmm, got one too at about 10.20. I just deleted it, but I did go to their
> web site to see wtf it was all about, not that the site told me anything.
>
> How d'ya know it cost £1.50?

PAYG balance went down.

Tim
>
>
> --
>
> J B
>

You can call them on 0121 643 7969 or 0121 643 9988.

"Tim Rogers" <sregoryimmt@com.btinternet> wrote in message
news:e0hfml$5sgd$1@news3.infoave.net...
>>
>> How d'ya know it cost £1.50?
>
> PAYG balance went down.

I'm on a business contract, so just rung OCS and asked about cost - they
can't tell till the billing date, which is Monday, so I'll keep you posted!

I quoted the 84010 number (from your post - I'd deleted my text) and the OCS
guy said it was from a company called Dialogue and I should call them on
0870 700 22 11

Maybe I could spend another £1.50 on the 'landline'! grrrrr


--

J B

Thank you for posting this information.

I also received the same unsolicited text from this company whicxh cost me
£1.50. I called the number on the text and was told nobody was available to
take my call so I called the number 0121 643 9988 given here.

I was told my name and mobile number were entered on an unspecified website
in January, which anybody could have done as a prank.

I insisted they had stolen money form me and I was told I would be posted a
£3.00 cheque as a refund. I also complained to ICSTIS Ltd www.icstis.org.uk
Tel: 0800 500212

I'll let you know if I receive the promised cheque.

MH


"J B" <jb@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:4949hpFn092mU1@individual.net...
> "Tim Rogers" <sregoryimmt@com.btinternet> wrote in message
> news:e0hfml$5sgd$1@news3.infoave.net...
> >>
> >> How d'ya know it cost £1.50?
> >
> > PAYG balance went down.
>
> I'm on a business contract, so just rung OCS and asked about cost - they
> can't tell till the billing date, which is Monday, so I'll keep you
posted!
>
> I quoted the 84010 number (from your post - I'd deleted my text) and the
OCS
> guy said it was from a company called Dialogue and I should call them on
> 0870 700 22 11
>
> Maybe I could spend another £1.50 on the 'landline'! grrrrr
>
>
> --
>
> J B
>
>

Tim Rogers <sregoryimmt@com.btinternet> had it:

> At 1121 today I received an unsolicited text from 84010 which said "Your B4U
> voucher w/c 27/03 is MARSMS. Log onto www.B4Utele.com for discount credit.
> To opt out reply stop. Customer care call 08717168 528

Just to join in - I got one of these this morning at 08:02. If this
company has illegally spam texted a large number of my colleagues
then they've picked the wrong target as we are a vast multinational
with many lawyers. I'm trying to get Vodafone to confirm whether the
receipt of this text has cost us any money.

Needless to say, I have never registered with them.

--
David
=====
replace usenet with the

Tim Rogers <sregoryimmt@com.btinternet> had it:

> At 1121 today I received an unsolicited text from 84010 which said "Your B4U
> voucher w/c 27/03 is MARSMS. Log onto www.B4Utele.com for discount credit.
> To opt out reply stop. Customer care call 08717168 528
>
> This text cost £1.50. I have never had dealings with your company so they
> have effectively STOLEN the money. I have replied Stop. When I emailed them
> the reply was:
> Hi.
>
> Thanks for your email.
>
> We do not, under any circumstances send unsolicited text messages to any
> individual/end user.
>
> All of our data is collected and collated online via our websites and
> services.
>
> You may have used a service of ours, or one of the company's we are
> affiliated with and entered in your mobile phone number at the time.
>
> This could have been a long time ago.

Even if this were true, surely it's not sufficient for them to send
you reverse-charged texts. I would imagine that they should be able
to provide proof that you actively requested such a service.

--
David
=====
replace usenet with the

"the Omrud" <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1e970fee857609aa98a7f9@news.ntlworld.com. ..

> Even if this were true, surely it's not sufficient for them to send
> you reverse-charged texts. I would imagine that they should be able
> to provide proof that you actively requested such a service.

I've just been on the B4U web site and filled in the contact form.
I pointed them at http://tinyurl.com/ll8cm which is the google groups link
for this thread.
I invited them to contribute, so presumably they'll be along soon to explain
themselves!
I also told them they were mentioned on 'grumbletext'


--

J B

On 2006-03-31, the Omrud <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote:

>> You may have used a service of ours, or one of the company's we are
>> affiliated with and entered in your mobile phone number at the time.
>>
>> This could have been a long time ago.
>
> Even if this were true, surely it's not sufficient for them to send
> you reverse-charged texts. I would imagine that they should be able
> to provide proof that you actively requested such a service.

As long as the police assume that you have signed up for the service,
and consumers have no right to repudiate specific charges and force
their phone company to act in their interests, the fraudsters have no
reason not to lie about it.

"Adam Funk" <a24061@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:grtvf3-62r.ln1@news.ducksburg.com...

> As long as the police assume that you have signed up for the service,
> and consumers have no right to repudiate specific charges and force
> their phone company to act in their interests, the fraudsters have no
> reason not to lie about it.

Guilty till proven innocent?

;-)


--

J B

"Ralph Martin" <reply@to.newsgroup> wrote in message
news:1143796812.16524.0@demeter.uk.clara.net...
> Thank you for posting this information.
>
> I also received the same unsolicited text from this company whicxh cost me
> £1.50. I called the number on the text and was told nobody was available
> to
> take my call so I called the number 0121 643 9988 given here.
>
> I was told my name and mobile number were entered on an unspecified
> website
> in January, which anybody could have done as a prank.
>
> I insisted they had stolen money form me and I was told I would be posted
> a
> £3.00 cheque as a refund. I also complained to ICSTIS Ltd
> www.icstis.org.uk
> Tel: 0800 500212
>
> I'll let you know if I receive the promised cheque.

I rang them and the man 'seemed' helpful and promised to delete my number.
He also told me that a cheque would be with me. ICSTIS were pretty useless
when I rang them!!

Tim
>
> MH
>
>
> "J B" <jb@privacy.net> wrote in message
> news:4949hpFn092mU1@individual.net...
>> "Tim Rogers" <sregoryimmt@com.btinternet> wrote in message
>> news:e0hfml$5sgd$1@news3.infoave.net...
>> >>
>> >> How d'ya know it cost £1.50?
>> >
>> > PAYG balance went down.
>>
>> I'm on a business contract, so just rung OCS and asked about cost - they
>> can't tell till the billing date, which is Monday, so I'll keep you
> posted!
>>
>> I quoted the 84010 number (from your post - I'd deleted my text) and the
> OCS
>> guy said it was from a company called Dialogue and I should call them on
>> 0870 700 22 11
>>
>> Maybe I could spend another £1.50 on the 'landline'! grrrrr
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> J B
>>
>>
>
>

On 2006-03-31, J B <jb@privacy.net> wrote:
> "Adam Funk" <a24061@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:grtvf3-62r.ln1@news.ducksburg.com...
>
>> As long as the police assume that you have signed up for the service,
>> and consumers have no right to repudiate specific charges and force
>> their phone company to act in their interests, the fraudsters have no
>> reason not to lie about it.
>
> Guilty till proven innocent?
>
> ;-)

That's the way it is for the consumer at present.

"Adam Funk" <a24061@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bbc0g3-kr3.ln1@news.ducksburg.com...
> On 2006-03-31, J B <jb@privacy.net> wrote:
>> "Adam Funk" <a24061@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:grtvf3-62r.ln1@news.ducksburg.com...
>>
>>> As long as the police assume that you have signed up for the service,
>>> and consumers have no right to repudiate specific charges and force
>>> their phone company to act in their interests, the fraudsters have no
>>> reason not to lie about it.
>>
>> Guilty till proven innocent?
>>
>> ;-)
>
> That's the way it is for the consumer at present.

Its about time that someone took these bastards to the small claims court.

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com