Mentor
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29 Messages
At&t let a third party charge me $9.99 without my consent
I got a spam SMS from 31850 asking me to sign up for some quiz, I just ignored it, I've always heard not to reply 'STOP' to spamers because then they know your number is real and being spammers they don't care what you reply. I've seen messages on this board where people reply 'STOP' and it does no good.
Anyway, I just got my bill and AT&T let this "third party" (it's in quotes because they have to be in cahoots with at&t for this to happen) charge me $9.99 for their subscription. I don't have time to deal with it now but I'll probably have to take time out of my day monday call At&t.
I usually don't get upset over stuff but I can't believe that AT&T lets someone sign me up for a $9.99 a month charge without consent, without a password or pin or an email or anything.
By the way, you are all now signed up for my subscription service. Please read this sentence to confirm.
yellowfever13
Tutor
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1 Message
12 years ago
This happened to me. I did not authorize the charge in any way, I'm a software engineer so I am well aware of how technology works. I did not do anything, I simply got a SMS saying I had already signed up when in fact I had not. AT&T did not believe me but still removed the charge.
It basically seems like some third party people are faking authorizations. I don't think it's AT&T's fault really, they are just the billing party in this scenario. But they do need to take note of fraudulent companies and block their charges.
On a side note, 4 other people at my work had the exact same charge, same story as me... just got an SMS saying they had signed up when they had not.
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user2212
Tutor
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2 Messages
12 years ago
My AT&T phone bill was charge of $9.99 for Words/Definitions ale, provider: Mobile Plus, Inc..
and I NEVER sent or received a text or accepted ANYTHING.
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the_real_seebs
Teacher
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5 Messages
12 years ago
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jamileh
Former Community Manager
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5.2K Messages
12 years ago
I'm sorry that you were charged by a spammer. Please take a look at this information regarding purchase blocker: http://forums.att.com/t5/Wireless-Billing/3rd-Party-Subscriptions-amp-Purchase-Blocker/td-p/3095123
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the_real_seebs
Teacher
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5 Messages
12 years ago
Wingrider, just a thought:
All it takes is *one* example of a charge being added which was genuinely without any kind of user permission, and you are wrong. No number of cases where there was some kind of user permission proves that it never happens without user permission.
Furthermore, we started getting these on a phone, many months after getting the phone, when it had NEVER been used for anything but communication with one other person on the same account. That number is not given out or used in any way. No downloads of ringtones, etcetera.
In short: You're engaging in utterly ridiculous, over-the-top, victim-blaming. What you've got going here is a cognitive error common to all humans called the "just world fallacy"; the belief that it is ALWAYS the case that people are somehow culpable when bad things happen to them. You can't accept that the spammers might just be getting away with something, so you come up with this theory that there must actually be some kind of permission happening.
But it's not the case. Yes, there are many tricky ways people can get "authorization", but that doesn't mean that every time they start billing, they used one of those. There are dozens of ways that people can scam stores out of stuff. That doesn't mean that there's no such thing as shoplifting.
The billing system allows third parties to start billing people without permission. AT&T has *confirmed* that this is the case, and that there are cases in which the third parties do not actually have permission. The "forward to 7726" thing exists partially because it helps cell phone networks track the spammers and disable their short code accounts.
Please stop trying to make excuses for scammers. Yes, purchase block is a good idea, but the fundamental problem is that the cell phone networks will accept charges without any sort of confirmation, and that scammers abuse this by charging for things without any kind of permission. That really does happen, and even if you were actually able to provide links and support for your claims that often there is a trick involved whereby they "got permission", that doesn't even begin to prove that it doesn't.
And you're quite right that a purchase PIN would solve the problem. So would simply requiring a response text saying "ACCEPT" in response to all "subscription" services. The problem is that you can get signed up through inaction. If any sort of action were required, AT&T (and other carriers) could check their logs for whether the user had sent ACCEPT, and they would not have this problem.
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disneymagik
Teacher
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21 Messages
12 years ago
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eurekabae
Tutor
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1 Message
12 years ago
Another victim am I. I don't care how big this company is, they do not have to right to charge me for something they have absolutely no proof I authorized. The onus is on THEM to prove this was authorized by me. How many times I heard today "....third party vendor....blah, blah, blah." "......third party vendor....blah, blah, blah."
It is not this third party vendor who billed me, it was AT&T. My bill shows the contact for this service is: www.att.com/mobilepurchases. The bill shows it is a month AT&T Monthly Subscription charge. It does not say it is a third party vendor charge subscription.
When did AT&T become an emiment domain service?
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Jaymied2003
Contributor
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1 Message
12 years ago
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jamileh
Former Community Manager
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5.2K Messages
12 years ago
I understand your frustration and I'm sorry that you were billed by a third party without your authorization.
The link that you provided is given to you as a means to review and manage your mobile purchases.
If you have not already, please ensure a purchase blocker is applied to your line so you do not have this situation in the future.
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PorterRanch
Teacher
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7 Messages
12 years ago
@wingrider01
{keep it courteous} at&t's practice of permitting 3rd parties to bill us consumers is wrong. Why do you defend it?
When there are thousands of people who all see subscriptions for $9.99 or $19.99 or whatever without knowledge of this, and who did not sign up for these scams, there's something wrong.
I'm sure at&t is making money off this disgusting scam. That's why they permit it.
Whether people are unintentionally clicking a link or not, it doesn't matter. What matters is it's happening to thousands of people and at&t knows it and let's it happen. And for many years now.
You know it's wrong so quit defending this practice. Scum will not prevail.
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