Gamazing mobile phone scam.

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My brother just contacted me and said that he had received a text from a company called 'Gamazing' say thank you for subscribing to their service (he hadn't) and by the way he would be charged £4.50 a week for the privilege unless he texted 'STOP' to them in the next 24 hours.

His mobile phone provider said he, or they, couldn't block these charges, which is stupid. He has texted the stop keyword to then but is obviously concerned how a company out of nowhere can just start hitting him for a service he has never heard of, let alone subscribed to.

Any of you chaps encountered this or a similar mobile phone scam?
Any good solutions for preventing this from happening in the future (short of my brother changing his number) ?
(pronounced: equal-sequel)   "I suffered for my art.. now it's your turn"
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Comments

  • This happened to my mum albeit a different company. We had to cancel her phone contract as they where charging her £20+/week!

    its absolutely terrible nothing can be done. 
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  • I was hit by one - went through a lot of hassle to cancel it before I was hit with a bill. 
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  • notanonnotanon Frets: 604
    Which company is refusing to do anything?
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  • equalsqlequalsql Frets: 6084
    notanon said:
    Which company is refusing to do anything?
    Three
    (pronounced: equal-sequel)   "I suffered for my art.. now it's your turn"
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  • notanonnotanon Frets: 604
    http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/stop-spam-texts has good info. Depending on situation you have to go careful before texting stop.

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  • notanonnotanon Frets: 604
    Did the money definitely leave the account? Scumbags, I wouldn't like to have to lose my mobile number.
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  • notanonnotanon Frets: 604
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  • PabloPablo Frets: 38
    Several people reporting the same on twitter, all with Three.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=Gamazing&src=spelling_expansion_revert_click

    Three advise texting stop and contacting the 3rd party for a refund:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/c_h_pugh/status/903595524212785152
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  • notanonnotanon Frets: 604
    Twitter is usually a very good place to complain, I've had companies jump quickly via Twitter. I forgot actually, I have a few tweets I need to send out :-)
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  • I had similar with another company. I called them and they refunded pretty much before I even finished my sentence.

    I now have my phone set by ee that I can't be subscribed to these kinds  of service. 
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  • JezWyndJezWynd Frets: 6021
    Is it possible he's entered an online competition or similar recently? The Terms and Conditions of said compo (scam) likely contained an agreement to accept their services.

    I had something similar with Virgin a while back. A charge for 4.00 appeared on my mobile bill. I queried it with Virgin and they told me that this was probably how it had come about. I think they must be obliged to send the opt out (stop) option. I did recall receiving one from something like 'babemachine' but I didn't even bother opening it, presuming it to be a scam. Virgin were initially quite bullish that I must pay but once the operator revealed that 'we get loads of these' I managed to get the charge stopped and a stop put on all future txts. I only noticed as I never incur additional charges. I imagine if it were a heavy user they might not even notice the additional charge, which is probably how these scams work.
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  • How does the phone provider make sure you dont get these again?
    i havent had a scam text, but if theres a way to pre-block them it would be good to know.
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  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11415
    How does the phone provider make sure you dont get these again?
    i havent had a scam text, but if theres a way to pre-block them it would be good to know.
    I had something similar - it wasn't Gamazing but I had someone charging me £4.50 a week.  (I think one of my daughters may have clicked on a dodgy advert when they were playing a game on my phone).

    I phoned Vodafone, and they blocked this kind of payment going out in future.

    The problem is that this is enabled by default unless you ask for it to be disabled.  The phone companies make more money that way.
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  • I had the same scam tried on me so after Three promised to stop it and refund my money and didn't, I changed provider.  I complained to the Ombudsman about Three's service and it appears Three told them they couldn't handle it so I have lodged a complaint with OFOM and will proceed to the small claims court.  Is it only Three involved with this Gamazing or has any other company done the same?
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  • And as for texting stop; its a bit like asking someone nicely not to break into your house.  This is a scam pure and simple and I have also reported this to the police but will not hold my breath
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