An Irish company “www.prizeclub.ie” sends you a text.
Heres the scam, you click on a link that redirects you to a website address, All seems innocent at first you answer a question, On the website you are not told that it will cost anything and as you are answering via a website address everything looks is fine, but it’s not. They send you a message back to your phone which then cost 2 euro.
I was scammed by this and ended up answering a few more that I should without thinking about it, I must say it’s great social engineering scam.
I am going to be emailing comreg and o2 in relation to this, as I feel that these companies who present seemly great offer are scamming by people into thinking it is free until it’s too late.
At least with betting companies or the lotto you know before hand how much it is going to cost you to play.
I wonder did I over use the word scam ?
are you saying that prizeclub.ie is a scam?
looking into it, the terms and conditions /do/ mention the prices… but who reads those? (heh – see latest South Park for reasons to read T&Cs carefully) “The first question is free and thereafter each question received every 7 days will be charged at €4, or as indicated, irrespective of whether the question is answered or not.”
So, I’m guessing they’re going to send you a question every week from now on, and it will cost you €4 every time.
Even if you /do/ win, they make it difficult to collect: “You may be required to present the SIM card of the mobile phone that you have used to play and win. You may also be required to provide a letter from the mobile network confirming that you are registered against the mobile phone in question.”
yup – a scam.
I just text STOP , thanks I never read the T&C, I’m thinking of taking the company to the small claims court over this. not sure how far it will get but it’s worth a try.
Hey There!
I was also scammed with this, it is amazing how this guys are able to operate like this.
The number I was charged is 57052
It is associated with a company called inkred
http://www.inkred.com
Their website could be hilarious if they weren’t actually taking money from people against their will… as they even have a link to explain how the complain process will work…
http://www.inkred.com/complain.pdf
I put on a complaint against O2, other with the comreg, and other with inkred.
I also wrote a letter to the Irish Times editor trying to get some exposition to this matter as if nothing is done they will get away with this kind of scam.
When I rang the comreg they said that they get thousands of complaints like this every month, so I would say redink is getting a ton of money to pay good lawyers and keep operating “within the law” as I was told by the comreg.
I believe that we should take action against this guys and work towards an happy end for this story!
Thanks
Hi,
Sorry to hear that another person has fallen for their scaming, they are very sneaky people.
I’m not sure what can really be done, I threatened them with court action and i never got a reply.
The work the system to suit themselves, and as you pointed out the probably have some very expensive lawyers.
Nils
Paulo my mums been hit with them as well. They claim they sent her a pin number which she put into their website. 1. She was on Pigsback around the time. 2. Never got a pin. 3 around the time they claim she was on site she was also talking to my brother on the phone.
Comreg sent her a call report from this crowd in xlt format which I could knock up in a min. On o2′s site I got the call logs of phone and it was a week after the so called signup she started getting their texts. This was sent to comreg as well. Not having much luck with comreg on the issue they basically say its her fault.
It’s a pity we don’t have class action laws in ireland yet, I suppose the only way would be to bring them to the small claims court.
Dead by a thousand cuts…
Yeah i’ve been conned with this lot and i;m furious,they have taken about 16 euro so far,i rang comreg to complain ,they said they are acting within the law…i contacted vodafone as well …same reply…i texted stop to 57052 last month to unsubscribe but its happened again…im afraid to put credit into the phone as it will disappear…any ideas would be welcome
It seems that alot of people are having problems sending STOP to these services.
maybe http://dataprotection.ie is a way to get to them, maybe sending a letter of complaint that these companies are using your personal details without your consent.