Unwanted SMS messages eating your mobile credit

[Peter Denis]

I recently noticed that the credit on my mobile DTAC prepaid was slowly going down (approx 10 bath per day) even when I did not use the phone.

Looking for the possible cause I searched the ThaiVisa forum and learned that this is due to a well known SMS scam.

When you receive an SMS about games, gambling or sexy pics, you are actually paying for receiving it, regardless if you open it or not.

And there is only one way to get rid of it, and that's to contact your provider and ask them to block these unwanted messages at the source.

It's not sufficient to block the sender of the SMS's (my credit kept going down even after having blocked the sender and not receiving any messages anymore).

Also using the *137 spam SMS-blocker does not seem to work anymore.

< Procedure consisted of dialing *137 and then a lady in Thai will say press 1 and to hang up.  Then dial again *137 but this time press 2.  Hang up and you will receive an SMS in Thai which says that unwanted SMS's are now blocked >

Even after getting the message, my credit kept going down.

So it seems there is only one way to get rid of it, and that's to contact your provider and ask them to block these unwanted messages at the source.

I did contact dtac (through a phone shop as I do not speak thai) and they were well aware of the scam and blocked it.

For the moment I am now already 1 week 'unwanted SMS free' otherwise my credit would have gone down with approx 70 bath.

But it's useful to follow-up as there older posts indicating that the scam might return even after your provider blocked it.

 

[BEVUP]

I think you should look for more posts here

I did & stopped my wifes situation (the same ) from the info on here

It had nothing to do with the Provider or spam blocking 

[mtls2005]

14 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

I recently noticed that the credit on my mobile DTAC prepaid was slowly going down (approx 10 bath per day) even when I did not use the phone.

 

Were you actually receiving "Content/Entertainment" SMSes? 

 

Data leaks can also result in unwanted balance dwindling - with mobile data enabled, and no subscribed data plan you will be charged a per KB/MB/min fee, say when you move off a WIFi network and onto a mobile data network Mobile data can be disabled/reenabled both within the phone and within  the provider's network.

 

*137, the universal code here for all providers, seems to work for most. But contacting the mobile provider and even the content provider remain options. The last option? Get a new SIM/number, and be careful about clicking on things. Most people unwittingly subscribe to these services, or their children do, or some work colleague punking you.

 

There are hundreds of similar posts here on this subject.

 

Finally, IMO, third-party billing should be automatically disabled by default - it is on LINE mobile SIM/accounts, and only enabled by the user making an informed decision to participate on a case-by-case basis. Of course, all the third-party providers would be against this proposal.

[Jack Mountain]

Probably you could have stopped it with the Dtac APP.

[flbkk]

I had this on True postpaid. “Daily tips “ horoscopes etc I never clicked on them. Unblockable numbers. I think True is in on it, but they stopped it at a true shop 

[xxeo]

Had the same problem recently! I lost quite good money, before I went to a TrueMove shop, and this guy blocked the bad SMS with 137. Came into effect within 24 hours, no problem since.

[Speedhump]

Hmmm. My wife and I had AIS SIM cards here for 2.5 years. Neither of us has ever received one SMS ad. In the UAE I used to get them all the time, several every day, unblockable - Etisalat took money from the companies to make their messages unblockable by phone owners (but no charge per message). 

[Skeptic7]

Actually think your mobile data is on and consuming your balance, as mtls2005 said above. To turn off at the source...not just on your device...you need to enter the proper code. For AIS, it is *129*1#. Call DTAC for their "data off" code. 

[QPRFC]

11 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Actually think your mobile data is on and consuming your balance, as mtls2005 said above. To turn off at the source...not just on your device...you need to enter the proper code. For AIS, it is *129*1#. Call DTAC for their "data off" code. 

Then he won't be able to use any data services on his phone like email, internet, message apps (Line, Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp, WeChat etc), Skype etc

[Peter Denis]

On 6/12/2019 at 8:09 AM, Skeptic7 said:

Actually think your mobile data is on and consuming your balance, as mtls2005 said above. To turn off at the source...not just on your device...you need to enter the proper code. For AIS, it is *129*1#. Call DTAC for their "data off" code. 

I am on the DTAC subscription for unlimited data (as I use my mobile as hub to access the web on my laptop).  So my credit is only affected when I make regular phonecalls or send SMS, which I very seldom do.  That's why I noticed that my credit was eaten slowly by these unwanted SMS's.  If you are not on an unlimited data subscription like I am, chances are high you will not notice that your credit goes down due to this scam.  That's why I posted the warning and how I finally got rid of it, as mentioned blocking the sender or using #137 did not help.

[Boycie]

I have been getting charged for these SMS messages (most of them i never receive) for quite a few months now.

 

Every month i go into the True shop to pay my bill and its inflated to the standard monthly charge. I ask why and they give me a printout of charges. Listed are some SMS messages that i have been charged for and i say "no not me."

 

They then ask for my phone, key in a code to stop the SMS messages and amend my account to the standard monthly balance that i always pay. Getting to be a regular event.

 

This month the True shop clerk said that all the phone companies are having problems and asked, if i could call *187 everynight before i went to bed, to stop the messages!!

 

[balo]

On 6/10/2019 at 12:51 PM, Peter Denis said:

And there is only one way to get rid of it, and that's to contact your provider and ask them to block these unwanted messages at the source.

There is another way as well.  Log into your DTAC app and just turn it off. 
I had the same problem 2 years ago and was told how to switch it off in the app.  They can also do it manually of course, but at least now you can control this yourself.