57756 W2 Mobile.LTD "Cuddly TV" premium rate text messaging service...... Beware!!!

Run_to_da_hills

This subject was also posted in the Vodafone forum recently and apparently it is becoming an issue for those with touch screen smart phones.

W2Mobile.LTD offer their services through a link that usually appears on the top or bottom of the screen of a subsidized or free APP.

If you are using the basic version of Eirtext you will find their link very close to the send button which makes it very easy to mistakingly press. I made this mistake and was charged 4.50 for their "service" which was a returned text message with a link.

This company has refused to cooperate with me or hand over the log file of which I requested. I have since handed the matter over to Comreg.

This company is <SNIP> beware.!!!

thntp

Hi, thanks for pointing that out. I gave received a similar message this morning and was scratching my head thinking when could i have subscribed to premium messaging service. What most likely happened was the subscription link was in one of the free games apps and did not require any password entry. Apple should not have allowed such subscription to be allowed in iTunes. I am very annoyyed at this.
Has anyone else had this experience?

Run_to_da_hills

thntp wrote: »

Hi, thanks for pointing that out. I gave received a similar message this morning and was scratching my head thinking when could i have subscribed to premium messaging service. What most likely happened was the subscription link was in one of the free games apps and did not require any password entry. Apple should not have allowed such subscription to be allowed in iTunes. I am very annoyyed at this.
Has anyone else had this experience?

I am awating response from Comreg, This company has yet to reply to my request for a llog file.

I believe they are bring in legislation that one cannot subscribe to these parasites unless you are willing to go through the step by step procedures.

Emoyeni

:mad:

Got "caught" myself at the weekend. Received a text on Sat advising me of my "subscription" but didn't see it till Sunday morning, by then they had sent me another one with links to "latest vids". Texted STOP back to 57756 and received a confirmation on the termination of my "Subscription".

Have been onto O2 and have learned that they have charged me €1.28 +VAT for 3 texts from them plus the €4.50 for the every 5 days lark. O2 don't seem to be in a position to do anything on this.

So I just spent the last hour opening all my apps to see which one was the culprit. In my case it was one of the few free ones I had - TVGUIDE that had a picture at the bottom that when touched opens a subscription page.

For curiosity I opened up this page and they have in very small text the comment regarding €4.50 every 5 days etc etc. They have then a video like image in the centre of the screen with a play button that says Join. I didn't press this but just closed the page. But I'm very interested to see will they charge me even though I didn't join.

In future 3G and Cellular data turned off when kids playing using phone. Not their fault but this is very sneaky.

Parasites indeed.

Is there any value in me contacting comreg also?

doleman2010

Waste of time going to comreg, you will be put on to a call centre in waterford .

Emoyeni

Actually contacted them anyways. One good suggestion was to contact W2 Mobile and ask them to blacklist my number. Which I have now duly done.

Unfortunately these guys are only one of many but at least I feel I've done something.

Gillo

Emoyeni wrote: »

Actually contacted them anyways. One good suggestion was to contact W2 Mobile and ask them to blacklist my number. Which I have now duly done.

Unfortunately these guys are only one of many but at least I feel I've done something.

Send them an email telling them to block the number, save that and the response they send, in case you have more hassle down the line.

vinnycoyne

OP has posted this in a couple of other places, so I'll copy & paste my previous responses:

EirText developer here. These ads are provided by AdMob, which is a third party advertising service. We have no direct ties with these advertisers, but will liaise with AdMob to prevent the ads from showing in EirText. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

It's also worth noting that, from a technical POV, it's not possible for an advertiser to retrieve your phone number simply by clicking on an in-app advertisement.

There's no API available in the iOS SDK which allows access to the user's phone number.

The ads from that company should no longer appear in EirText, but if they do, please let me know and I'll add more restrictions. I would also recommend that you contact AdMob regarding the issue.

AshtownGuy

I have been stung by this 57756 W2 Mobile scam too. I just checked my bills and only now realise that all those empty-nothing messages that came to my phone from them were charging me, and I'm already down about 20 euro.

I have pinpointed the source of my unknown subscription to the 'Weather+' App on my iPhone 4. The ad above and below for videos of celebrities, when clicked, which in my case was accidental, sends your phone number to this W2 Mobile company. The information page sending your number and giving you unsubscription info doesn't appear on the phone long enough to read and immediately opens a stupid video page. I'll try to do this again while filming so that I can slow down the page to read the info, and then send onto Comreg.

Not sure if we can do anything to stop them. I'm going to delete that app and send a message to Admob who place those ads and may write up a review against this app in the App Store or tell Apple about it or something just so others don't get stung.

Longy

I just checked my Phones Bill details today and found that they have taken 3 payments of €1.40 every week for the last 3 weeks. The Scum bags must be cleaning up on this. Their website wont except Irish numbers, so we can't make contact, they don't answer the Irish phone number and they are yet to reply to my emails.
Something should really be done about this <SNIP>!! This issue has been going on Long enough.

xmas09

This is driving me CRAZY. I received 2 texts in may about latest vids, didn't think too much of it until I got the you are subscribed text last Friday. Checked my account and sure enough the money was going up and up. So I texted back STOP, never heard anything else until I got another latest vids text today! I'm raging that these ***'s are getting away with this. I can't even pinpoint where I was scammed into this but I reckon it's likely a kids app. I have been onto 3 and they are next to useless,can't block the number and can only give me comregs details which judging by the posts above is no use at all. Has anyone got the better of these <SNIP>? Short of changing my number I can't think what else to do (oh and btw 3 will kindly oblige to change my number for a €15 fee!). Surely they are breaking laws by continuing to take money after I have unsubscribed?

jposhea

I got caught by these <SNIP>, yet again… Same thing happened me 2-3 years ago and I decided that I was going to chase this company down until I caught up with them and get my money back. I sent e-mails repeatedly to Comreg-it was a pointless exercise. By the time is finished, over 5-6 weeks I probably spent the gods of 4-5 hours work on it and got nowhere.

The biggest shock to me was that, being a loyal customer of O2's since I got my first mobile phone nearly 20 years ago, I had serious difficulty in getting O2 to knock the money off the bill. Effectively, these <SNIP> have an open cheque-book in O2. When this incident happened 2-3 years ago I actually contacted O2 before I paid my bill and told them that I would not be paying them the amount that they had paid these <SNIP>. They told me that they had paid these <SNIP>, on my behalf, and that I had no choice but to pay them. Imagine that! O2 effectively gave these <SNIP> and blank cheque in the form of my mobile phone bill!

These <SNIP> are not contactable-all you get are voicemail and e-mail-not one of them have the backbone to speak to you. There is no proper company at the front of this-in fact, at the end of my investigations, the last time, I stopped because I was afraid that I was getting myself involved in something dangerous-at that point, I had traced company to Germany and Lithuania. O2, after weeks and weeks and weeks of letters, and eventually agreed to take the hit for the 60 Euro sent to them. I had no pity on them whatsoever.

Why is there no way to ensure that these type of <SNIP> are not able to set up a automatic debit from your phone Bill at their choosing? When I rang O2 I asked them was there any way that I could put a note on my account, or a flag on my account, to ensure that the only way that these type of charges could be put on my account would be if I was to attend at their offices in Limerick with all eight of my great grandparents. They said there was no way they could do this.

Every day, in this country, we hear of new legislation being introduced to cover this and to cover that-why is this not being investigated and made illegal? Where is our money going to?

Wake up Ireland! We are being scammed every day of the week…

I have just rang the phone number of the customer service desk of cuddly TV to tell them that if I receive another premium text from them I will call around to their offices with a hurley - no more Cuddly ! ! ! !

If these people had backbone they wouldn't hide behind VoiceMail and eMail ! ! ! ! !

dudara

@jposhea Please take the time to read the forum charter. Use of violence is not condoned on Boards.

dudara

Run_to_da_hills

I have just received notification from my bank of a lodgement of €9 from W2 Mobile (Cuddly TV) They have also blocked my number from any of their premium services so I can be scammed caught out again.

Would like to thank Comreg for their involvement in sorting out the matter and hope that this be of assistance to anyone else who had the same problem.

Persistence dose work.

Senahel

Got this message yesterday, it charged €4.50 to my O2 account. I rang O2 and they got the money back for me. I also got them to bar any premium text from my phone.

There is also a Dublin no 01.2467606 that 1 of the text came from. Beware!!!!

The no for comreg is 1890 229 668 if anyone needs it...
O2 1909.


People should post this on as many sites as possible to warn others.

Senahel......

bluemac

just noticed it on my childs text on there phone any one know what app it would be so i can delete it..

BrianD

I have read a number of these threads. One thing that I am curious about, these in app adverts seem to be capable of obtaining your phone number if clicked intentionally or intentionally.

I have read that some of the mobile firms facilitate the passing of your number to the advertiser and there is of course :click to call" that I can imagine could easily be "click to text" (not unlike a mailto link).

Clearly there's a lot of money to be made from these services and often these services pay big money for adverts,

What's to be done?

Irish Iron

ive had the same text without entering my number anywhere (with o2)although instead of cuddly tv it says cute tv, i sent 'STOP' to the correct number twice now and did not receive a confirmation of them stopping this 'service'. Theres a dublin number for w2m in one of the texts should i ring them to confirm its stopped or just hope the stop message done the trick?

pfurey101

Irish Iron wrote: »

ive had the same text without entering my number anywhere (with o2)although instead of cuddly tv it says cute tv, i sent 'STOP' to the correct number twice now and did not receive a confirmation of them stopping this 'service'. Theres a dublin number for w2m in one of the texts should i ring them to confirm its stopped or just hope the stop message done the trick?

COYI!

paulocon

Irish Iron wrote: »

ive had the same text without entering my number anywhere (with o2)although instead of cuddly tv it says cute tv, i sent 'STOP' to the correct number twice now and did not receive a confirmation of them stopping this 'service'. Theres a dublin number for w2m in one of the texts should i ring them to confirm its stopped or just hope the stop message done the trick?

Did you ring them in the end? I had the same issue in that I received a couple of texts. Just off the phone to the Dublin number and they've told me my number has been 'blacklisted' and that I would be refunded the money. We'll wait and see what happens.

Pushed the guy as to how it could happen as I hadn't sent a text to any number to subscribe for these texts. He said he didn't know and that it 'sounded strange'. When I asked how I could prevent the same thing happening to my wife or children, he said he didn't know.

hoodwinked

What is their number? can someone pm it to me they are sending me these texts too! :mad:

paulocon

hoodwinked wrote: »

What is their number? can someone pm it to me they are sending me these texts too! :mad:

01 246 7606 - don't bother cancelling using the automated system, use the option to speak to an operator.

When I rang, I requested an email to confirm I had been removed from the list and that the money would be credited to me. I threatened legal action should I receive any more texts. I also mentioned it was a company phone.

I received the email shortly after coming off the phone.

Like I said, they couldn't give an explanation as to how I subscribed. When I pushed the guy on this, he just kept saying that I had been removed and I wouldn't get any more.

When I asked them what the hell I was paying 4.50 a text for, he told me it was for a link to a website. When I asked what the website was, he said it was a site containing humorous videos of animals (called cuddly TV or something like that). When I asked for an example, he said something like a dog or a cat falling off a table. I then told him there's nothing even remotely funny about a dog OR a cat falling off a table.

The naming of the 'service' (Cuddly TV) would indicate that it is aimed towards a younger demographic. God only knows how many pre-paid phones have been cleared of their credit by this shower.

Anyways, let us know how you get on.

hoodwinked

i rang and got through to an agent,i explained i was on to comreg and he agreed to refund it and i later received the following email from them:

Dear Mr./Ms. ,

Thank you for your request.

We have stopped your subscription and blocked your number from future
access to our services.

As a gesture of good will we will grant you a refund of 4,50 Euros.
Due to technical reasons, we are unable to refund this directly to
your mobile phone invoice. We will be happy to refund this amount to
your bank account. Please provide us with your IBAN and BIC.

If you have any further questions don?t hesitate to contact us.



Best regards,

do they seriously think im going to send on my bank details????

im going to have to wait until tomorrow to ring them to give out again :mad:

paulocon

hoodwinked wrote: »

i rang and got through to an agent,i explained i was on to comreg and he agreed to refund it and i later received the following email from them:





do they seriously think im going to send on my bank details????

im going to have to wait until tomorrow to ring them to give out again :mad:

I got more or less the same email only without the 'gesture of good will' part. I emailed them back a response similar to that posted by you above, along the lines of:

given that your company has removed money from my account without my permission, I don't feel comfortable giving you my bank account details. I do find it hard to understand how you can remove money from my phone account without my permission yet cannot credit money to it.

I'll be interested to hear how you get on when you ring again..

outandabout

Got on to them and got offered the refund option if I gave them my bank account details. They're based in Germany.

berganto

Hi all- just received a text from +44 729626448 saying
You are subscribed to Cuddly TV. Cost 4.50 every 5 days. Over 18 only. SP w2Mobile. Ph: 01 2467606. To unsubscribe test STOP at 57756

Called the Dublin number and spoke to a guy called <SNIP> who agreed to blacklist both my wife and my iPhone from their service. He said basically if any user of the phone is browsing the web and clicks into one of their banners, they become an instant member (which is complete fraud in my book). I asked him if he received a lot of irate callers, he paused for a while and said sometimes. Sounded like he's<SNIP> and you'd have to be if you worked for an outfit like this? Total cost on my wife's bill since 14:37 today €4 which I'm now going to take up with Vodafone, incredible that some vampire can make a business out of this....

pfurey101

These people know that what they do is not correct and know that they can trap the innocent and not so innocent. They know and go out of their way to trap even more.

They can hide behinds Term and Conditions and other bland business bumpf, but they do know that what they do is unethical and provide feck all in return for what they charge.

They know all of this and all their business aims are intentional. What does say about them as people?

I have 4 sons, with 2 of them in the smartfone world on texting and browsing and despite me trying to alert them to this type of thing - they will be caught.

Horrible legit business, they don't give a f*ck - horrid little people.

Dodge

Don't know if it helps in this case but if you have an iphone, you might think about turning off in app purchases.

Go to settings -> general -> restrictions

and turn off 'In-App purchases'

podgeandrodge

caught by this scam too, using the luas app posted on here (through no fault of the developer - I think a lot of apps are ad sponsored)

Rang Comreg - they say they are "trying to make it harder by introducing a pin request feature - so you have to type in a pin to subscribe" to things like this.

But what they won't/can't answer is why they can't just stop the 57756 service, and others like it, when they get a slew of complaints (they were well aware of this company)

Yobnned

This is the email and reply regarding me and this scamming company W2Mobile.
MY EMAIL

---

Hi,
I was talking to your company re an unauthorised text that you sent me stating that I had subscribed to some CuddlyTV on 21_03_12 at 10:27. My personal mobile number is [URL="tel:086%208106609"]xxxxxxxxxx[/URL]. This action was not initiated by me as I explained to your operative.
I was assured that I would not recieve any more of these unsolicited messages in future and that I would be refunded. I was told that I would get an email explaining where this action was initiated from and I still have not recieved the same or had my personal Meteor account reimbursed. I have been in touch with ComReg, and I am also sending a copy of this email to them.
ComReg told me that I am entitled to these requests and to contact them again today, if I have any issues with your Company.
Please supply me with the relevant information as to how you acquired my personal mobile number and where you alledge this occured. I am urgently awaiting this information and wish you to expedite my request as soon as possible today.
Sent the relevant matter to <SNIP>

W2M Irland info.ie@w2mobile.com
13:39 (10 hours ago)

Dear Mr xxxxxxx,

Thank you for your request.

We have stopped your subscription and blocked your number from future access to our services.

Please allow me to explain how your subscription was activated. On 21.03.2012, you visited our service page after having clicked on an advertisement using your mobile phone. A video was chosen by clicking “JOIN”. Clicking JOIN began your subscription and played the selected video.

Our service pages clearly state the terms and conditions, pricing info, as well as our contact details. We also sent you a confirmation SMS at the beginning of your subscription, in addition to weekly reminders.

As a gesture of good will we will grant you a full refund of 4,5 Euros. Due to technical reasons, we are unable to refund this directly to your mobile phone invoice. We will be happy to refund this amount to your bank account. Please provide us with your IBAN and BIC.

If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

W2M customer service
<SNIP>
_______________________________________________
Tel: [URL="tel:012467606"]012467606[/URL] (Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.)
Mail: info.ie@w2mobile.com

Rosebowl11

I have had this problems too. I bought new samsung galaxy s2 last week ( had a samsung android for 18 months before this). Noticed on monday, got a text sayign I had subscribed to football mania, rang service provider 3 and they told me i obviously had subscribed to a premium service, cant remember how I subscribed, did not put my mobile number into any page. Text stop to the service and got an unsubcribed txt back. few mins later got another txt to say i had subscribed to something else. Rang the 01 number that was in the text and was told I would be blacklisted. Later on that evening was still getting message alerts, up until yesterday when I rang the 01 number again and told them that if they didnt blacklist my number I was going toComreg and told them that they had no authority to take money from me. Have not had any alerts since and I have been credited back 6.60 euros to my 3 account. So dont take no for an answer. I was absolutely furious with this company. How dare they scam people like this and they are getting away with it too. Shame on them and the people who work for them!!!

podgeandrodge

Rosebowl11 wrote: »

Have not had any alerts since and I have been credited back 6.60 euros to my 3 account. So dont take no for an answer. I was absolutely furious with this company. How dare they scam people like this and they are getting away with it too. Shame on them and the people who work for them!!!

Good to hear you got your money back.

But what can be done about these scam artists?

1. All operators should ensure that clicking on an ad CANNOT result in your phone number getting sent to the advertiser - how does this happen anyway - where in the phone is your number stored that allows a webpage "retrieve" it?

2. Comreg actually DO something as opposed to talk about what they would like.

Maybe we can start something on boards - a fight back if you will...!:)

Rosebowl11

Seemingly (now I dont know for sure) but you have to be very very careful with apps cos if you read the small print they can pass on your info to third parties. I dont know how they get your mobile number there is obviously software attached to the link when you click it. Its same as pc if you download free software from the likes of utorrent or bearshare etc. software can be attaced to a file and it automatically runs on your pc. We Irish are far too slow and lazy to do something about these scammers. They are a disgrace!!

BrianD

podgeandrodge wrote: »

caught by this scam too, using the luas app posted on here (through no fault of the developer - I think a lot of apps are ad sponsored)

Rang Comreg - they say they are "trying to make it harder by introducing a pin request feature - so you have to type in a pin to subscribe" to things like this.

But what they won't/can't answer is why they can't just stop the 57756 service, and others like it, when they get a slew of complaints (they were well aware of this company)

Ok. this is interesting and important.

Can you advise if:
a) the app you used was on iPhone or Android.
b) what permissions you have to give to the app.

Also the developer does have some responsibility here. They decide whether the app will be a paid for app or ad supported. Do you have any direct contact with the developer? It would be interesting to know, how the ads are being served into the app.