SMS Subscription Service: the scam & how I got my money back
This post is a departure from my usual technology-filled posts; it is rather a personal story that affects many people that I think is worth sharing my experience. It is about these SMS subscription services where people sign up for a service, receive content via SMS, and then get billed monthly through their cellphone provider. I was signed up without my knowledge, billed, and this is how I found out about this scam industry and got my money back from them.
The Story
It starts
The first indication I had was the odd appearance of “Content Charge” on my July invoice from MTN (my service provider). MTN uses such complicated names for services that it could mean anything, but something told me I should find out what it was. I called MTN and was told it was for a subscription service! I told the call center agent that I had never signed up and wanted my money back. Unfortunately, MTN couldn’t help me—they only canceled it that day and gave me the details of who to contact about this.
The interesting thing about this is that to run a subscription service in South Africa, you must be a member of WASPA, the Wireless Application Service Providers' Association. WASPA has excellent rules about what is allowed and what is not allowed, and the company MTN told me to call about a refund is thus a WASPA member—that company is called Opera Interactive. (I am not linking to these companies not because I do not want you to know exactly who they are, but because I do not want to give them any search engine love.)
I phoned and spoke to Opera’s call center (by now the 25th of July) and they told me they could not help—as they only handle billing. All they could do was cancel the service and give me the actual company’s details. That’s right: Opera is not the company; they are a middleman and, from what I understand, let non-WASPA members “pretend” to be them, handle the interaction for billing with the service providers, and take a cut of the profit.
Opera then told me to contact Mobmatic, who were incredibly rude and told me to email them because they do not help over the phone with refunds. Although they have a South African phone number, they are based in the UK—eventually, they just hung up on me after I asked to speak to a manager. So I emailed them and immediately logged a complaint with WASPA.
Lies, damn Lies
Nothing until the 31st of July, when Mobmatic emailed me a document (below) as proof I had signed up and told me they wouldn’t refund me. So I looked it over and checked the details:
- I checked my SMS logs on my phone to see if there were any at the dates/time specified. There was only one from the 3rd of July, but since I had never signed up, I ignored it as it seemed like a scam. However, the key confirmation signups were not there.
- The phone model and even the browser string features did not match my phone.
I responded again with that information and asked for a refund.
Then, nothing—no one responded until the 2nd of August, when WASPA said they had proof of me signing up from a company called Sprint (note: not Mobmatic). They had asked for the service to be canceled and then closed the case. Despite my asking for a refund, they ignored it—it really felt like WASPA had an automated system. I contacted them again and said I suspected the "proof" was the same as sent to me, outlined the error in the "proof," and asked for a refund.
The scary part of the WASPA reply was, “Since your unsubscribe request was not resolved using the informal process”—informal?! What is informal about logging requests, getting reference numbers, and so on? It just led to more proof that WASPA operates in an automated process.
WASPA contacted Sprint again with the details I sent them and told them they had to provide significant data in their response or they would have to go before an adjudicator.
The fight back
Oddly, within 3 days of this, I was phoned and offered a full refund. They told me I would be emailed and could respond with my details. I got the email the next day (below), and it was almost identical to what they had said—except for a clause protecting themselves from any legal action if I accepted the refund.
I gave them the details and got my refund! WASPA contacted me a week later to confirm, and I held off responding for another 3 days until the money actually arrived in my account (10 full days after I had spoken to them—what is this, the 1980s?). I told WASPA it was sorted out but urged them to launch an investigation into the companies and structures. That was a few weeks ago, and nothing has happened since.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this shows you that it is possible to fight these people who are screwing the man in the street and gives you some idea of what to do. Here’s a short list of things to remember:
- Your mobile provider can’t do much—so don’t fight with them. Be kind and get them on your side to get as much information as possible.
- Keep a log of all interactions, including names, reference numbers, times, etc.
- Once you’ve tried the direct route with the companies, contact WASPA immediately. While they seem like a checkbox organization, you’ll still need their help.
- When you get “proof,” go through it in detail. I would have likely agreed with them that maybe it was a mistake, but the wrong phone model and suspicious ISP gave me confidence that I was right. These aren’t simple things to check, so maybe get your favorite geek to help.
- Do not give up—if you’re right, there are plenty of routes. From speaking to MTN during this, if WASPA fails, you can still escalate to the consumer commission, which gives you a lot of power to fight them.
While WASPA is a good idea, it seems underfunded and employs everything it can to automate the system and deal with the load as much as possible. It’s clear that the requirement for a double opt-in exists, but the opt-in system doesn’t need to be on the device and thus can be forged. This is just a sign that while the good idea is there, they can’t keep up with the techniques bad companies use to steal money.
Hopefully, you never have this happen to you, and if you do, I hope this helps you fight these scammers!