AIS SMS scam charges

[justjoined]

I have a mobile phone account with AIS, it's billed rather than prepaid. For the past 2 months I've been flooded with SMS messages and now AIS has billed me around B3,000 for receiving these messages (which are in Thai and I cannot read).

After many calls to AIS, they have informed me that a telesales rep from the SMS company told them I had agreed to the service and therefore I will have to pay.

Has anybody had this happen before?

[Amusements]

I had something similar happen on a brand new true H sim card. Got billed for text messages in Thai that I never gave permission for. In fact the sim went straight in to a 3G wifi dongle. I had to get the operator to block the texts, but I never got a refund for the ones I got charged for.

I would be great If there was a watchdog we could complain to for this sort of thing.

[justjoined]

I had something similar happen on a brand new true H sim card. Got billed for text messages in Thai that I never gave permission for. In fact the sim went straight in to a 3G wifi dongle. I had to get the operator to block the texts, but I never got a refund for the ones I got charged for.

I would be great If there was a watchdog we could complain to for this sort of thing.

Did you have a prepaid card? In my case I've been billed, but haven't paid. AIS claims to be in the middle and collecting on behalf of another company, but they are not being helpful and I find it difficult to believe they are no benefiting.

[Giddyup99]

I'm not sure if this is true but.......if you don't open the message then you do not get billed. Usually if I get an SMS and see that it's in Thai I will not open it and delete it immediately.

[wolf5370]

I was getting billed on a True post pay contract for junk texts - came to about 600 baht a month. I told True that I wanted to cancel the contract because of it, and they said they can just cancel the SMS "contracts" instead. They did that, no more charges (of course no refunds either).

[justjoined]

I was getting billed on a True post pay contract for junk texts - came to about 600 baht a month. I told True that I wanted to cancel the contract because of it, and they said they can just cancel the SMS "contracts" instead. They did that, no more charges (of course no refunds either).

Was this a prepaid phone? In my case I haven't paid and have never agreed to pay. I remember somebody calling to ask if I was willing to receive free texts for 7 days, however they never mentioned being charged after this period and were deliberately vague. They've since rang AIS, told them somebody agreed but haven't even been able to get my name correct.

AIS claims they are just collecting on behalf of someone else, but it's difficult to believe they don't benefit in some way.

[redsox44]

Wife has same problem with AIS. First month her 499 Baht bill was close to 700 Baht. I've been to AIS numerous times with little success in solving the problem. Got same reply when we asked to cancel the contract. Believe it or not today, 18 August an AIS rep actually said the following, " AIS is not responsible for Steve Job's death. It's an Apple problem, have a nice day".

Being the total ass that I am I've consulted a lawyer who plans on accompanying me to AIS HQ in an attempt to clear up what is an AIS problem. If they do not satisfy me I intend to take them to court in a class action suit. Know I will most likely get no where but I'm pissed.

[Suradit69]

I was getting charged frequent small amounts from some business I knew nothing about. Went to AIS customer service in Pattaya. They were able to stop any further charges being made. I didn't ask about amounts charged in the past.

[Gonsalviz]

I'm not sure if this is true but.......if you don't open the message then you do not get billed. Usually if I get an SMS and see that it's in Thai I will not open it and delete it immediately.

Be sure that you will be billed and you will pay whether you read them or not. *137 is the number you call to stop them but it is in Thai so to follow the directions you have to understand Thai.

[Cloggie]

Just go to pay your bill at an AIS SHOP and tell them to STOP all SMS - after 24 hours you will not receive any sms anymore

[ThaidDown]

I remember somebody calling to ask if I was willing to receive free texts for 7 days, however they never mentioned being charged after this period and were deliberately vague

One trick they use (the 'news' provider not the service provider) is that when agreeing to the 7 day free trial you also agree to the conditions. Often the conditions are 'if you do not cancel after those 7 days you are automatically billed'.

+1 for cloggies post above, visit AIS shop and they will stop the messages

[akampa]

the same applies to DTac I use a prepaid sim ,a few years back I noticed that the amount I had on the account was being reduced but was not using the phone or internet .Went to DTac office they canceled the sms but would not refund the amount lost,it seems they automatically swith this service on but do`nt give the choice to turn off when purchasing a sim for the first time.

[aarn]

Thanks justjoined for starting this post -

kinda confirms my suspicions as to why my 100B prepaid credits were usually exhausted after less than a week.

Cloggie mentioned <<Just go to pay your bill at an AIS SHOP and tell them to STOP all SMS

- after 24 hours you will not receive any sms anymore>>. Actually you can call 1175,

get an automated English-language menu to stop those money-sucking SMSs NOW!

Of course the best solution is to have 1B credit on your telephone,

you can still receive calls for a year. AA

[KhunBENQ]

A noptorious SMS spammer is called INN news.

Kind of a news subscription.

Just google for "inn news thailand", "inn news sms",

My wife had it on her prepaid.

No idea why.

Had to get help from the kids to stop it.

No idea how they dit it.

Maybe these older threads might be interesting to see:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/316840-mobile-telephone-text-nightmare/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/539996-about-letting-gf-answer-your-mobil-and-how-to-stop-inn-biz/

Seems they do automatic calls to advertise subscription and note about any reaction on the phone as "subscribed"?

Smells like a real fraud.

Edited August 19, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[justjoined]

I remember somebody calling to ask if I was willing to receive free texts for 7 days, however they never mentioned being charged after this period and were deliberately vague

One trick they use (the 'news' provider not the service provider) is that when agreeing to the 7 day free trial you also agree to the conditions.

I don't remember agreeing to any conditions, surely they need some evidence? They have not even got my name right when they told AIS to charge me.

Why can't AIS just let me pay the phone bill and let the scam company chase me for their bill if they think I'm liable for it?

[Suradit69]

I remember somebody calling to ask if I was willing to receive free texts for 7 days, however they never mentioned being charged after this period and were deliberately vague

One trick they use (the 'news' provider not the service provider) is that when agreeing to the 7 day free trial you also agree to the conditions.

I don't remember agreeing to any conditions, surely they need some evidence? They have not even got my name right when they told AIS to charge me.

Why can't AIS just let me pay the phone bill and let the scam company chase me for their bill if they think I'm liable for it?

Because some people consider it a convenience to be able to charge certain things to their phone. If AIS started deciding what their customers should or should not consider worthwhile subscriptions or services, people would protest at being unable to charge this or that on the mobile. And in future it's almost certain that even more things will be chargeable either directly or indirectly through your phone company... or PayPal or FaceBook or Twitter or ...

There should be a better way to authorize such payments and to prevent unauthorized, "accidental" charges, but as long as someone can profit from the accidental charges, the phone companies won't be eager to make the hurdle too effective ... and that's true everywhere in the world. When customer convenience confronts profitability, business will talk up the convenience but tilt things to favor profits.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Suradit69

[ThaidDown]

I remember somebody calling to ask if I was willing to receive free texts for 7 days, however they never mentioned being charged after this period and were deliberately vague

One trick they use (the 'news' provider not the service provider) is that when agreeing to the 7 day free trial you also agree to the conditions.

I don't remember agreeing to any conditions, surely they need some evidence? They have not even got my name right when they told AIS to charge me.

Why can't AIS just let me pay the phone bill and let the scam company chase me for their bill if they think I'm liable for it?

The 'agreement' could be included in the first text message you received from them. Maybe something like ' 7 day free trial , billing will start if you do not cancel before 7 days' in Thai probably.

[martin81]

This is a true scam for both AIS and DTAC.

The SMS comany just make automatic phone calls to your number and if you reply they will automatically steal small amounts from your account for each SMS even if you never agreed to anything and just hung up.

I am sure the SMS company make huge profits from this fraud. Probably AIS and DTAC also make some money from it; else they would stop it.

At my DTAC number it has not been posible to stop it. So now I just keep small amounts in the SIM to avoid weekly 8 B charge for SMS I don't want.

[muratremix]

Problem is, they are billing you for a service you did not sign up!

This is not fair business model.

Just buy a sim card from 7/11, activate it and you start getting sms and they bill you unless you cancel them?! &lt;deleted&gt;?!

[Litlos]

Have had this happen twice. First time mostly offshore with no service and got a months worth on the next bill which explained the daily SMS for the couple of days I did have service. Rang up AIS and got it stopped, but no refund. A few months later got an automated phone call in Thai so just hung up. Next day the SMS arrived, a bit wiser this time. Rang up AIS and explained the story, no problem service cancelled and no charge. I then specifically asked to have all these type of SMS stopped, OK no problem done and nothing since, but I had to specifically ask to get it blocked.

Cheers

[manarak]

Looks like a problem more to solve for the General !

[richard_smith237]

With AIS I encountered the same issues.

I was overseas, turned my phone on to make a call and received a load of MMS's from MCOT news network, all in Thai which I can't read.

Upon my return to Thailand I was billed (itemised) an additional THB 6000 for these messages. I contacted AIS and refused to pay my bill, it wasn't a service I had accepted. I argued that AIS should charge MCOT news and definitely not me as I had previously requested all advertising messages to be blocked.

AIS were very good about this and after a little back and forth, threatening to leave AIS etc they cancelled the additional THB 6000 charge.

More recently I have left AIS for True due to a succession of other errors.

[somchaismith]

What's worse is when you get a new mobile number and you get charged for SMS still being received to it because the number's last owner didn't cancel them.

[yankee99]

I didnt think ais charged for incoming texts

[somchaismith]

I didnt think ais charged for incoming texts

They can bill you or deduct money from your credit on behalf of a third party.

[justjoined]

I didnt think ais charged for incoming texts

They can bill you or deduct money from your credit on behalf of a third party.

And what if I refuse to pay the third party? Is there a way I can just pay the phone bill and have the third party chase me for the sms? AIS is saying they're in the middle, if this is the case then they should be willing to leave it between me and the scammers.

[manarak]

I didnt think ais charged for incoming texts

They can bill you or deduct money from your credit on behalf of a third party.

And what if I refuse to pay the third party? Is there a way I can just pay the phone bill and have the third party chase me for the sms? AIS is saying they're in the middle, if this is the case then they should be willing to leave it between me and the scammers.

actually there is some confusion here, AIS doesn't charge for receiving the texts, it charges the customer on behalf of a third party for sending the SMS to the customer as a service, based on customer's alleged acceptance of the terms.

That's what the call in Thai language is probably about.

[wolf5370]

I was getting billed on a True post pay contract for junk texts - came to about 600 baht a month. I told True that I wanted to cancel the contract because of it, and they said they can just cancel the SMS "contracts" instead. They did that, no more charges (of course no refunds either).

Was this a prepaid phone? In my case I haven't paid and have never agreed to pay. I remember somebody calling to ask if I was willing to receive free texts for 7 days, however they never mentioned being charged after this period and were deliberately vague. They've since rang AIS, told them somebody agreed but haven't even been able to get my name correct.

AIS claims they are just collecting on behalf of someone else, but it's difficult to believe they don't benefit in some way.

Erm no, post paid - as I stated. I received no requests at all, just SMS appearing on my bill with strange names that were obviously info services. I get the feeling that someone is being paid to collect subscribers for these companies, but instead just signs up any number that they can and pretend they agreed - and rake in the affiliate fees!

[justjoined]

I didnt think ais charged for incoming texts

They can bill you or deduct money from your credit on behalf of a third party.

And what if I refuse to pay the third party? Is there a way I can just pay the phone bill and have the third party chase me for the sms? AIS is saying they're in the middle, if this is the case then they should be willing to leave it between me and the scammers.

actually there is some confusion here, AIS doesn't charge for receiving the texts, it charges the customer on behalf of a third party for sending the SMS to the customer as a service, based on customer's alleged acceptance of the terms.

That's what the call in Thai language is probably about.

The call in Thai was to ask if I would accept receiving free SMS messages for a week. My Thai is good enough to understand what was being said, there was no talk of fees, they just said it was something I would be definitely be interested in. From memory I clicked on the first message, my wife read it and it was horoscope related. Now AIS is saying the telesales staff told them I had agreed to the paid service (although they've given the wrong name).

Even though TIT, AIS is foreign owned, there should be some system for complaints etc. Such a large company shouldn't be allowed to be involved in what is clearly a scam. I think the main reason they get away with it is because they are normally taking money from prepaid accounts.

[justjoined]

I was getting billed on a True post pay contract for junk texts - came to about 600 baht a month. I told True that I wanted to cancel the contract because of it, and they said they can just cancel the SMS "contracts" instead. They did that, no more charges (of course no refunds either).

Was this a prepaid phone? In my case I haven't paid and have never agreed to pay. I remember somebody calling to ask if I was willing to receive free texts for 7 days, however they never mentioned being charged after this period and were deliberately vague. They've since rang AIS, told them somebody agreed but haven't even been able to get my name correct.

AIS claims they are just collecting on behalf of someone else, but it's difficult to believe they don't benefit in some way.

Erm no, post paid - as I stated. I received no requests at all, just SMS appearing on my bill with strange names that were obviously info services. I get the feeling that someone is being paid to collect subscribers for these companies, but instead just signs up any number that they can and pretend they agreed - and rake in the affiliate fees!

Did you query the bill? I have and aren't satisfied at all with the answer. I'm refusing to pay. If they force it, then I will switch my to phones over to True. I've been using AIS for 17 years.