Got scammed by mobile services.

[JohnnyBKK]

Hello,

 

I got scammed for 231 thb and counting, they subscribed me to a service without my consent, I don't even send SMS nor visit any thai website.

 

When I asked true about it, they said if you click on a banner it can activate the service... <deleted> !

 

I have 77 charges for June and the same is happening in July.

 

Be very careful and check your bills as you could have services subscribed even if you don't do anything.

[Jan Dietz]

But you do get your fortune told by SMS twice daily!

[JohnnyBKK]

2 minutes ago, Jan Dietz said:

But you do get your fortune told by SMS twice daily!

It's illegal to subscribe people without them knowing or clicking anything... It's just a scam.

[Jan Dietz]

Maybe you pressed '1' during one of these robocalls, or made an affirmative sneeze...

 

Anyway when spotted they will 'happily' unsubscribe you, and maybe even reimburse you, though you may be better off entering in the lucky numbers you got in the lottery.

 

[JohnnyBKK]

I contacted them and asked for a full refund, they said they will do that in 7 days, let's see. I screenshoted the conversation.

[Just Weird]

25 minutes ago, JohnnyBKK said:

I got scammed for 231 thb and counting, they subscribed me to a service without my consent, I don't even send SMS nor visit any thai website.

 

When I asked true about it, they said if you click on a banner it can activate the service... <deleted> !

 

I have 77 charges for June and the same is happening in July.

 

Be very careful and check your bills as you could have services subscribed even if you don't do anything.

Which website did you click on or what service did you allegedly subscribe to?  That would be useful information if you're giving us a heads-up!  How did you suddenly get the service on an existing number or was it a new SIM with a payable service?

 

Calling something a scam when you probably agreed to it by clicking on it and considering that they have agreed to give you a full refund, and it was only a couple of hundred baht, is a bit over the top.

[jackdd]

32 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Calling something a scam when you probably agreed to it by clicking on it and considering that they have agreed to give you a full refund, and it was only a couple of hundred baht, is a bit over the top.

It is indeed a scam. Many people somehow get subscribed, but don't know how, probably they never did. If you complain about it they unsubscribe you and return the money, but there is a good chance that next month you are somehow subscribed again. This might repeat itself every month.

They make money from people who don't complain about the 100 THB charge and just let it happen. It would be very easy for AIS / True / Dtac to stop this completely, but they earn money from it so they are happy to participate in this scam.

[Dnyy]

Call *137 and unsubscribe from all this spam

[JohnnyBKK]

I never visit thai websites and I don't send any SMS, but I shared my internet with tethering with thai people who didn't have internet. But even that, I don't understand how can someone subscribe to paid services just by clicking online banners or visiting websites.

 

If it wasn't a scam they wouldn't agree to refund the charge, go and ask for a refund for your internet or phone bills, they will of course refuse. They accept only to refund scammy charges.

[JohnnyBKK]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

Which website did you click on or what service did you allegedly subscribe to?  That would be useful information if you're giving us a heads-up!  How did you suddenly get the service on an existing number or was it a new SIM with a payable service?

 

Calling something a scam when you probably agreed to it by clicking on it and considering that they have agreed to give you a full refund, and it was only a couple of hundred baht, is a bit over the top.

That's how it works, take 200 thb from everyone every month, refund those who complain and that's how you make a few billion bahts for nothing. I don't even receive the SMS that the service is supposed to send. And as I said, they wouldn't refund if it was 100% legit.

[Just Weird]

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

It is indeed a scam. Many people somehow get subscribed, but don't know how, probably they never did. If you complain about it they unsubscribe you and return the money, but there is a good chance that next month you are somehow subscribed again. This might repeat itself every month.

They make money from people who don't complain about the 100 THB charge and just let it happen. It would be very easy for AIS / True / Dtac to stop this completely, but they earn money from it so they are happy to participate in this scam.

"Many people somehow get subscribed, but don't know how, probably they never did"

How is that possible?  I have True, Dtac and AIS numbers, I've never been subscribed to anything that I didn't agree to.

[Just Weird]

47 minutes ago, JohnnyBKK said:

That's how it works, take 200 thb from everyone every month, refund those who complain and that's how you make a few billion bahts for nothing. I don't even receive the SMS that the service is supposed to send. And as I said, they wouldn't refund if it was 100% legit.

"That's how it works, take 200 thb from everyone every month, refund those who complain..."

But they don't do that, you clicked on something!

 

"...they wouldn't refund if it was 100% legit".

For a customer like you, who made a mistake and clicked on something 100% legitimate, authorising a debit in error, it's very likely that they would refund you such a small amount, it would be worth it just for the PR.

 

You didn't say on which website you clicked, is it a secret?

Edited July 19, 2019 by Just Weird

[JohnnyBKK]

10 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

"That's how it works, take 200 thb from everyone every month, refund those who complain..."

But they don't do that, you clicked on something!

 

"...they wouldn't refund if it was 100% legit".

For a customer like you, who made a mistake and clicked on something 100% legitimate, authorising a debit in error, it's very likely that they would refund you such a small amount, it would be worth it just for the PR.

 

You didn't say on which website you clicked, is it a secret?

I never clicked any website, I don't visit thai websites, obviously I was subscribed without knowing.

[amykat]

It’s happened to me too.  Also, when you travel overseas, DTAC or someone starts sending you very expensive weather reports every hour, once you get off the flight and turn your phone on.  I just never turned mine on when I traveled I got so many weird charges. I had like 4000 baht of weather reports one time.  I never click anything and barely even use a phone.

 

Part of the problem is that crap is all in Thai obviously and you can’t read it.  

[jackdd]

39 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

"Many people somehow get subscribed, but don't know how, probably they never did"

How is that possible?  I have True, Dtac and AIS numbers, I've never been subscribed to anything that I didn't agree to.

The companies get your number from somewhere, and then just sign you up and tell the provider that you signed up for the service yourself. Probably there are also other ways.

If the telco providers wouldn't want to support this, then such paid services would be deactivated for all sim cards by default, and if somebody would want to sign up for this stuff they could activate it.

But the providers don't even offer the possibility to deactivate this completely, which is why people have to complain about their bill every month, so the providers are clearly in on the scam.

Edited July 19, 2019 by jackdd

[Just Weird]

25 minutes ago, JohnnyBKK said:

I never clicked any website, I don't visit thai websites, obviously I was subscribed without knowing.

 

3 hours ago, JohnnyBKK said:

When I asked true about it, they said if you click on a banner it can activate the service...

Seems that you must have.  So far it's only you, there aren't any other complaints here about this "scam".

[amykat]

8 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

 

Seems that you must have.  So far it's only you, there aren't any other complaints here about this "scam".

Why do you keep saying this? Do you know any people here?  I just wrote it happened to me.  I have read people posting about this before, I have known people in real life that this happens to, what are you on about dude???.

[CharlieH]

From my observations and experience, this seems to happen to "pay as you go" sims, I have never heard of or experienced this happen to anyone on pay monthly.

Obviously others may experience other.

[jackdd]

21 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

From my observations and experience, this seems to happen to "pay as you go" sims, I have never heard of or experienced this happen to anyone on pay monthly.

Obviously others may experience other.

This might actually be true, i didn't think about this before.

My girlfriend had a True postpaid contract, no problems with such charges. After she changed the sim to prepaid (keeping the sim and number, just changed the billing method) it didn't take long until she got randomly charged for SMS. When she complains at the True shop they refund the money and tell her they have unsubscribed her, but it does usually not take long until she gets charged again.

[JohnnyBKK]

On thai forums a lot of people are complaining and posting screenshots of their bills, some of them charged for 5 different scams at a time.

[seajae]

for some time I was getting messages from numbers that were not complete and when I tried to find out who they were was told they are not real phone numbers, have to wonder how they all managed to send me messages if they were not real. Really have to wonder what the providers allow certain people/companies to do with their customers

[VBF]

13 minutes ago, seajae said:

for some time I was getting messages from numbers that were not complete and when I tried to find out who they were was told they are not real phone numbers, have to wonder how they all managed to send me messages if they were not real. Really have to wonder what the providers allow certain people/companies to do with their customers

It's called number spoofing (link). When I worked for a large Telecoms company as a software tester, we did it as part of our testing.

No - I shall not be offering any more details. ????

[jackdd]

10 hours ago, seajae said:

for some time I was getting messages from numbers that were not complete and when I tried to find out who they were was told they are not real phone numbers, have to wonder how they all managed to send me messages if they were not real. Really have to wonder what the providers allow certain people/companies to do with their customers

It's possible to send SMS with any sender id you want (can be a phone number, but can also be a name), there are various companies offering such services, can be easily found on Google.

[guru]

My wife and I both have post paid True packages. Last month we both got scammed with dozens of these SMS messages without agreeing or even knowing anything about them. Hers were for horoscopes and mine was for funny videos. All in Thai. I never clicked on the links in the SMS messages thinking I would be safe but charges for each SMS still appeared on next bill. Wife was same but once got her bill she deactivated her scam SMS messages by calling an automated number in the SMS itself. Myself - I went barbarian and complained to True customer services. Lady said many similar complaints and immediately refunded me the charges, adjusted my bill and deactivated this funny video SMS subscription. She then clicked an option on her computer which she said deactivated all broadcast SMS messages except those essential ones directly related to my True account meaning I would never get a similar problem again. We shall see.