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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Mobile Phone Fraud

By Michael Raja


There aren't a lot of folk without a cellphone these days. Youngsters have them so that their mother and father can get in touch in case of an emergency, and a lot of adults have 2 "1 for work and the other a personal gizmo.

Some unscrupulous people are using this to their advantage and tricking cell telephone users. Individuals who are on contracts (or pay monthly) are the hardest hit, because there is not a limit to how much money can be taken from the account. Mobile telephone operators do not question the charges or put a stop to it, simply because the majority of this needs an opt-in to keep on. There are 2 methods this can take place:

Text message/TV contest

This usually when you see an advert on Tv exclaiming that you can get a free ring tone or video clip simply by sending a text to a certain number. What they don't tell you in the fine print is that by sending a text you agree to their terms, and that only the 1st item is free, and that you will be charged a certain quantity for each sequential message. Once you've figured it that out you'll need to send a STOP message to the number to get out of this mad deal. Regularly time people don't realise this until they see their monthly statement, or if they have prematurely run straight out of credit.

Free App

The other way something similar to this may occur is by downloading a free app that guarantees free ringtones, wallpaper, screen savers and other IT support dept bad dreams. Again what occurs is that while you are initially presented with some free items of that nature, all future updates and downloads are chargeable. Sometimes these transactions occur in the background, again billing your service supplier or using your bank details stored on the phone, eg PayPal or Google Wallet.




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