Tanla Mobile/want-tone 82600 scam Inq hack.

[El Gringo]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...te-texts-prove
Premium rate texts prove unstoppable
Rant Tone doesn't want want-tones
17 April 2008

A PREMIUM rate text service – want-tone club – is giving this particular INQ hack a major headache. Despite phone calls, emails and text messages, the content provider - Tanla Mobile - just won't stop sending the texts.

It turns out that Tanla is the very same company that an INQ reader complained about back in January 2007 here.

One of the problems is that your own mobile network provider – in this case, Orange – has no powers to stop these messages being added to your bill. You have no course of action other than to complain to Phonepayplus (the artistes formerly known as ICSTIS).

Theoretically, you should be able to put an end to the annoyance by texting the word 'stop' to the shortcode which the provider is using, in this case 82600.

The catch is that, in this instance, nothing happens. This also highlights another problem. Official advice differs on the exact form the message should take. Tanla itself says 'stop' should work.
Yet the official advice on the Phonepayplus web site says it should be 'STOP ALL' or 'STOP'.

Anyway, the INQ tried phoning up the number given in the text by Tanla which, for a change, isn't a premium rate service as well. All you get is an automated system which takes note of your mobile phone number and says the messages will stop. But they don't.

So you try emailing the company. A few days later, Tanla's customer support desk phoned up and said the messages have been stopped. The very next day, the three messages – charged at £1.50 a piece, bringing the total to £4.50 a week – arrived again.

The INQ tried to access the bill for this particular phone online but the Orange UK web site has a problem, which we first reported here.

So resorting to the good old dog and bone, Orange finally informed us that, just this month alone, Tanla has charged £18 so far.

We contacted Phonepayplus who informed us that complaints like this have to be investigated thoroughly and take time.
Interestingly, Phonepayplus also informed us that it does have powers to force refunds – which didn't seem to be the case last time we investigated.

It does mean, however, that Tanla can go on charging its £4.50 a week until the wheels finally grind into action. There is one ray of hope, though. If enough people complain to Phonepayplus, it can trigger its 'Emergency Procedure' which will stop the service until an investigation has been completed.

So if enough of you who are suffering at the hands of Tanla/82600 complain via the Phonepayplus web site, then the messages might stop before the INQ's bill reaches £50. µ

to Tony
5/29/07

In August 2004 Icstis brought in a scheme where all service providers had to be licenced but from the above it is clear that Ofcom and Icstis had been allowing the UK network and premium rate numbers to be used with little or no regard to the protection of the public from fraud.

I believe this case is important because altough premium rate internet dialler fraud has largely disappeared the problem now appears to have migrated to unsolcited reverse billed text messages. Telecom One have also been investigated by Icstis for their involvement in those.

he was warned

[El Gringo]

update

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...-scam-revealed
Ringtone scam costs consumers dear
Tricked into £4.50 weekly sub
By Tony Dennis: Friday, 16 May 2008, 12:38 PM

A SCAM that tricked consumers into a weekly £4.50 subscription has been exposed in its full glory by the INQ.

The fact that no full refund has yet been received by one complainant [the INQ] was described by industry enforcer, PhonePayPlus (PPP), as "an isolated incident."

Consumers had received a message that read, "Download your NO CHARGE Mark Ronson Valerie Ringtone now!'. However, when they followed the link (received by WAP Push) and downloaded the ringtone, they were deemed to have subscribed to a paid-for service.

In this case the content provider was 2 Comm and the service provider was Tanla Mobile. The PPP's official adjudication on the scam revealed that there have been six cases involving Tanla Mobile since May 2007 and two of them involve 2 Comm. The INQ drew the PPP's attention to two of them.

What makes matters worse was the revelation that the word 'STOP' had been sent to Tanla's systems on 458 occasions and nothing happened. Consumers kept being charged. The PPP simply accepted the lame excuse that this was down to a "system failure."

The PPP has informed the INQ previously that it does have the power to enforce refunds but in this instance it accepted Tanla's assurances that the monies would be returned.

Unfortunately, the PPP is displaying astounding naivety. Indeed, when the cheque arrived from Tanla with regard to this INQ hack's own complaint, it was for £1.50 not the £35 charged. It also seemed to relate to an entirely different incident involving a Kyle Minogue ringtone. And there was no company name on the cheque, which we found alarming.

A report way back in December 2004 called for service providers to possess " adequate customer service and redress processes." How much more inadequate does Tanla have to get?

The INQ asked a spokeswoman for the relevant industry body, AIME (Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment) what they might do about Tanla. Effectively she admitted the body was currently too busy trying to expel another member and fighting TV Quiz show negative publicity. µ

@Dave K
who?

Sponsor Members

Enarpee Services Ltd,Upaid,Mobile Interactive Group,WIN,Netcollex,World Telemedia,OITG,Yahoo! Search Marketing

Executive Members

2929 Interactive,Orange,3,PromoVeritas,BT Agilemedia,Redstone Communications,Cable & Wireless,Sport Media Group,D2see,Swiss One Ltd,Dialogue Communications,Sybase 365,Million 2-1 Ltd,Tanla Mobile,Minick,Telemedia Hub,
Mobile Inspirations,Thus,Mobival,Transact Group,MX Telecom,Vodafone,O2,Voiceplus,Opal Telecom

Members

2Comm,Kingston Communications,2Ergo Ltd,Ledbury Media,4th Screen,LUUP,4D Interactive,Mediatel,Absolute Live,Netsize,Advance Dial,Phone Group,Bango,Phonovation,Black Box,PNC,Blue Stream Mobile,Point Topic,C3 Ltd,
Premier Communications,CC Media Live,Red Circle Technologies,Cellcast,Screenpeaks,Cellectivity,Squ are1 Communications,
Cheers International Telecom Ltd,Stratus,Com & Tel UK,Sulake,Crystal Communications,Telco AG,
EliteCommunications,TeleMedia InteracTV Production Ltd,Ellison Communications,Telsis Ltd,Enum2go,Top Connect OU,
Eversheds LLP,Trodat Telecom,Fonestarz,UK Directory Assistance LLP,G8wave,Unicorn Telecom,Global Charge,Vision SMS,
Golden Telemedia,Vertigo3g,Goodman Associates,WAAT Media,Hot Chilli,World Premium Rates S.L,Invomo,Zamano,
iCommunicate Services,Vision SMS

[El Gringo]

update

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...mystery-solved
Premium rate text mystery solved
Handset has too many numbers
03 June 2008



THE INQ'S RUN-IN with mobile content supplier 2comm and text aggregator Tanla Mobile has reached an interesting conclusion. Apparently Orange has allocated too many numbers to the handset in question.

According to 2comm's CTO Tony Kelly, Orange provided its early customers with separate telephone numbers for voice, fax and data. So when he was searching for records of the INQ's earlier transactions, they proved very difficult to find.

Kelly claims that, while the texts appeared to be sent to the handset's voice number, his company's system was actually tracking the handset's data number.

Curiously, this didn't appear to prevent the company's accounts system from billing the handset correctly. But Kelly reckons it is the reason why efforts to halt the arrival of further texts by sending the word 'Stop' didn't work.

2comm has now promised the INQ a full refund. However, it's a mystery why such a situation came to exist in the first place. Both Tanla and 2comm are well-established players in this market.

Kelly has promised to take the matter up with the industry enforcer – Phonepayplus (PPP) – to try to ensure the situation doesn't arise in future.

It's taken the INQ's full media mightiness and strenuous efforts to reveal that the problem existed in the first place, however. From our mailbag we know that the INQ isn't alone in complaining about over-billing of premium rate texts. µ

See also ... Premium rate texts prove unstoppable