Scam, Partners in Fraud, Sprint & Flycell

I was scammed bigtime. More than six months of bogus bills form 3rd parties via Sprint. I called Sprint repeatedly to dispute and reuquest to block the " services", and up to today I am still stuck with the "service" and the charges. Flycell provided some instruction for unsubscribing the "services" but the stop of services never took place in spite of repeated attempts. I understand that Flycell is a foreign company. Is it then above the U.S. law. Sprint claimed that there is nothing they can do. Again, that's classic "SCREW THE CUSTOMER" attitude.

lionking
[ December 9, 2006 ]

Thumbplay.com

My story is similar to the others I read here all except I did not read one about Thumbplay. I downloaded a free ringtone several months ago and I didn't read the Terms and Conditions (until today). It states that if you agree to accept the free ringtone you accept the terms and conditions which says it will charge $9.99 a month for 10 credits. Which is outrageous, I only used it that one time. Needless to say I cancelled the subscrition by text messaging them. I also went on to www.m-qube.com and asked them to stop billing me. Hopefully next month my bill will be $10 cheaper.

Melhop
[ December 1, 2006 ]

Add Mobilesidewalk.com to the List

Last month, I noticed a strange charge on my Sprint PCS bill for $15.98 under the heading of Premium services. I called Sprint who claimed the charges came from a 3rd party. They could not do anything about it and told me I must contact the company directly to unsubscribe and request credit. They told me the Company name was Blinko and gave me their 800 number 800 313-9695. This turned out to be a bogus number which redirected me to a phone chat line. I went to their website. There was no further contact info, so basically no one to request credit from.

The next day I called Sprint again. After a long battle I finally got someone who told me most of these are Scams. I verified this online. The company Blinko was on every scam alert. Sprint agreed to adjust the charge and put a block on messages coming from this site.

In November I received my next Sprint bill and there was the same charge again. I called Sprint again. This time they were extremely rude and after speaking to 2 different support folks and 2 supervisors, they gave me another 800 number 800-925-5285 and told me the charge this time came from a company called MobileSidewalk.com yet it was the same type of charge. I told them to try calling the number and verify for themselves this is a scam. They refused and the supervisor hung up on me (after an hour and a half on the phone). I called the number which again diverted me to another number. I called that number. It was a voice box which said to leave a message, which I did. I went to the website www.mobilesidewalk.com. It was the same exact website I had seen the month before when it was called Blinko. This time though it had a contact email support@mobilesidewalk.com. I emailed them and got an auto response saying that someone would get back to me in 3 to 5 days?

Bottom line: This is a scam. This company which also uses the names Blinko and Dirty Hippo, bills cell phone companies for supposed services which in turn end up as "Premium service" charges on my Sprint bill. The beauty of this scam is that Sprint puts a block on it but then these guys simply change the name of their company and telephone number and again charge for phantom services. These charges begin when these scam artists send an email text message to a cell phone; they seem to be able to target kids. When the receiver of the message replies to the text message they are automatically enrolled in this premium service. Then they claim that a valid contract has been made. From what I see these, these companies do offer legitimate services but use highly deceptive practices in doing so.

Rick D
[ November 29, 2006 ]

Alltel—Information but No Credit

I spoke with three people at Alltel today. Two customer service representatives, and one person from Tech Support. They were all very helpful, but stressed the point that the charges are from a third-party, therefore, they are not responsible.

Here is a summary:
October 8, 2005—ALL incoming and outgoing text messaging was BLOCKED!

October 13, 2006—My daughter, lured in by great ring tones for $2.99, registers via the internet, purchasing two ring tones, nothing more (or so she thought). She told me she did this and that she would pay for them—no problem, right?

October 26, 2005—The two ring tones are downloaded.

From October 12 to today November 28, there have been 8 "mobile messenger" downloads at $5.99 each. Authorization for these charges has been being sent from a billing location known as E-WALLET, this name is associated only with accounts signed up through sources other than your phone. Those done through the phone have a different name and Alltel can trace them all the way to the source, if it's from e-wallet they can not. The code that the Alltel had to track this billing is 89623. I do not know where this information comes from but the tech said they have no details on it. I too was given the 800-235-7105 number and listened the pleasant Australian tell me to enter my call back number—Danger Will Robinson—this only confirms with the company that your number is good. Reading other people's stories they say this doesn't work.

The CSR at Alltel said she had the same problem and gave me an internet site to cancel from www.m-qube.com. She said it worked for her so I have given it a try. We'll see. The tech told me that the listed company generating this charge is Mobil Media; she thinks it might be like a chat room. These unsolicited downloads are being sent in a form that is NOT text messaging, therefore, the block will not work. It could be a picture, video, music, and stock report... Because of this type of downloads even though we DO NOT HAVE text messaging we can still be billed for this. This seems like a mystery to me, our TM has been blocked for over a year, we have never received or sent any in that time. But a different form of download can not be blocked - go figure.

Legally though, I believe, my daughter unknowingly signed up for some type of automatic downloads. Even though we don't receive them they are still being sent and we are being billed for them. I created the same type of problem over 30 years ago when I was about five. There was a really neat add on TV about calling a local number for the joke of the day, this was before the 1-900 numbers so it looked ok. My folks choked when they got the phone bill. I think each call was about $1.35; I called every day, sometimes more than once.

I don't know how this is going to turn out in the end; my daughter may have to live with a new phone number. As a lesson learned she will be paying most of the cost, she is almost 20 and in college. If you've gotten this far you are obviously interested, or have way too much time on your hands. If either is the case here are a few internet addresses that I discovered in my search for knowledge. www.shortcode.info/forum/showthread.php?t=17 www.m-qube.com/html/utility/help.html www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff196919.htm www.jamsterscam.com/more_stories http://daily-bacon.blogspot.com Good luck to all of us!

Dad—John
[ November 28, 2006 ]

Mblox and Mqube

I have a three line family account with Cingular. My son's line has not been used since April when he went into a brain injury rehabilitation program. I decided to continue paying his $9.99 per month fee so that we could quickly put his phone back in service when he got out of the hospital. His phone and his account line number has not been used for more than six months. The phone is, in fact, inoperable. I noticed bills on his phone number for mblox and Mqube in May. I called. requested cancellation of these "services", even though I was certain that my son had not signed up for them. He really does not have the mental capacity to do so with knowledge of what he is doing. Now, this month, November, I see on my bill, on my son's line a new charge for Mblox and Mqube. It is truly amazing how these services were once again "requested" over an inoperable phone, by an operator/user that has not had the phone in his hands in six months. Damn, I despise these people.

Sam Price
[ November 27, 2006 ]

Similiar Problem, Got It To Stop

I recieved an email from "John Mayer" about getting free ringtones. John Mayer being my favorite singer, I followed the links. When I got there I couldn't find any John Mayer songs available. I did find one I liked, so I tried it. This signed me up for "music trivia." I continued receiving "music trivia" questions for a month until I saw my Cingular bill. I had two $9.99 charges that I had no idea where they came from. I called Cingular. The guy I talked to was very nice. He explained what it was, and offered me a "parental control" that would help in preventing unwanted downloads that would stop charges I didn't want. He also offered to remove the charges. When he looked into it, he could only gaurantee that one charge would be removed, but he would try to get both, if at all possible.

While he was doing all this, he found that the $9.99 charges came from "goldpocket." So I started doing some Google searching. I found a "mobile sidewalk" with "goldpocket" and that is where these "music trivia" questions had been coming from, so I followed that link. After some digging, I found the page for the music trivia, and the terms of service. It stated that I could cancel at anytime (thought I don't know how I really approved the starting of it) by sending a text message that said "stop" to 44577. So I did that and recieved a return message saying my subscription (don't you have to sign up for those? I didn't do that...) was cancelled and I would no longer receive messages from them. So it looks like my problem is resolved, it just may have cost me $9.99 to solve it if they can't get both charges off. I wish someone would make these things illegal.

Mary Ann
[ November 27, 2006 ]

M-Cube Knows the Scam

Two years ago we started a contract with Cingular and began to get constant text messages, "will you be my friend" and other insane stuff. These were sent to my son, and of course Cingular told us he must have signed up for something, WHICH HE DID NOT! After a LOT of hassle we ended up eating the charges BUT after changing his number the BS ended. We recently started a new plan with Cingular and guess what? Within one hour after we activated our phones my wife is getting THE SAME BS messages. I had told Cingular we did not want text messaging or Internet service and even though we did, our next two bills had about $50.00 in charges from M-Cube. Cingular is next to no help and I believe someone inside the company sells lists of numbers to these rip off companies. HOW ABOUT WE ALL GET AN ATTORNEY INTERESTED IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT? Someone email me at ahope4u2@charter.net if you have an idea!

Thomas
[ November 25, 2006 ]

Being Ripped Off

Today as everthing was goint great , my dad had called me over and said "why, on you phone bill, is there a extra $18 in charges for games?" I said to my self, "games?" Wait, I did not download games. My father did not belive me. He had called NexTel to tell them it was a mistake. They said I have to go to this website, www.mqube.com, to delete it and put in my celll phone number. I am now on the website, which it not helpful at all. I now have to have my father yet again call NexTel to delete these charges!

Nicole
[ November 20, 2006 ]

Will Cancel

This is the second month in a row. First time I made the calls cingular asked me to but again I got billed. This time I called to have it removed and told Cingular I am not calling anyone else. If they do not fix it I will cancel service with them and they can forget any contract that was signed. Now I will sit back and see just how much control Cingular has over this problem. I'm kind of curious if it makes a difference where one might purchase their phone from, wether direct from cingular or third party seller of phones who gets the phone number for you and sends you the phone. Also wonder if it the main numbers that get the charge as often as secondary numbers.

Steve
[ November 20, 2006 ]

M-Qube + Verizon Wireless = SCAM

First and foremost, something must be done to combat these companies. After glancing over my bill today, I noticed a premium texting charge of $17. Being that we did not even come remotely close to exceeding our text messaging package, this seemed strange to me. I called Verizon's customer service, and was informed that my fiancee's line was charged by M-Qube for 2 downloads. Neither myself nor her have ever heard of M-Qube, and avoid these spamming companies like the plague, as we've heard all the horror stories. Needless to say, I checked my bill again, and found that the charges were billed on October 13, 8:55. During this time, both my fiancee and I were no where near a computer with internet access. However, during this time, she received SIX straight text messages saying "Wut Up! Who Are You Talking To?" The sixth message said if you wish to stop receiving these messages, please reply back with the words cancel. Upon sending the reply back to them with the words cancel, two more messages were sent, and then they stopped. After calling Verizon today, I was told that they told me that they were not responsible for issue refunds on these issues. They gave me the # for M-Qube. I called, and was told the same thing. They are not responsible. I will be calling back tomorrow morning 6 AM EST. now to follow up and demand my money back. It is shameful to think that Cellular providers would allow companies to send unprovoked text messages conning the customer into texting back. They are supporting theft in every shape and form.

PREM-SMS

Can someone tell me if PREM-SMS is connected to these other company names? The contact phone which is to an only automated answering machine was 1-800-235-7105. I signed up for something free on net and it asked for cell phone # instead of home #. Withing 3 minutes my phone started beeping funny, I looked and it said I had a text message. I do not use texting. Tehre was a number to call if you did not want the service so I called the above number and followed the directions. I recieved several messages that day but did not read or respond to any. My bill now has $16.48 in charges. I tried to call the 800# again and you can not talk to a person or have a was to reach one. That screams SCAM right there. How do these people get away with this?

LP
[ November 16, 2006 ]

M-Cube Scam

We began receiving unsolicited text messages that added up to $30. I spend several hours with Verizon and m-Qube to no avail. Searching the net I discovered that anyone can sign up any cell number for text messages without any confirmation from the cell phone owner. I hope to see companies as M-Cube and their tacit accomplices (Cell Phone Carriers) sued for these practices.

AR_gis
[ November 15, 2006 ]

Get M-Cube Off Your Bill!!!!

Ok, So I have been reading all of these stories about M-cube and the charges on the cell phone bill. I myself have fallen victim to this; however, someone else put my number in. I searched the internet for about an hour and found something interesting.....

[ on m-Qube's Customer Support page ]

How do I stop the messages and billing?

And on the right hand side you will see: "Click here to stop billing and messages." Hopefully this will do the trick, let me know if this doesnt do the trick! Good luck everyone!

Julie
[ November 11, 2006 ]

MQube

Same problem. I don't even have text messaging available on my phone but I'm still being billed by MQube.

Rob
[ November 8, 2006 ]

Cingular Employees are Monsters

My Seventy Five year old father got a couple of phones from Cingular two years ago. He has a heart Condition and I have Muscular Dystrophy. We need cell phones for emergencies, but DO NOT need or know how to download unwanted Ring tones, Horoscopes or Jokes of the Days. It was brought to my attention the other day that the bills are getting kinda high. Turns out we have been overcharged to the tune of $400.00 since Aug 2005 for Jamster, Mblox, M-Qube and Verisign.

My Father called Cigular and got the Standard "Call Someone Who Cares." So we went to the Cingular Store that we purchased the phones from. We were told "Sorry we just sell phones here" by two employees that say they have never heard of this Scam or Class Action Suit. I called 1-800-331-0500 and spoke to a Cingular CSR by the name of Charles. He not only acted like he has never heard of this problem before, but was almost Gleeful at my distress. At this point I requested to have both phones turned off. Charles was more than happy to turn our phones off and made sure to repeat several times that I could Call Back within 59 days and have them turned back on without a new contract. The conversation ended with him sarcastically wishing that I have a Wonderful Day.

I'm not sure what the status of the class action suit is, but I sent my story to the Attorney and plan on going to the BBB tomorrow. I went to the Consumer Affairs web site, but they just seem to stand on the sidelines and watch us getting Screwed. They did have an article stating that Jamster has been purchased by Rupert Murdock, So now they have even more power to smash us little guys into submission. I went to the Sprint Store and was assured that I could get a phone and have the text messaging and internet blocked, but it sounds like you don't have to receive the messages to be charged for them. I hope all these Scamsters and cell providers are happy, they have left my crippled A$$ Terrified to leave the house as I no longer have the ability to communicate in an emergency situation.

Mike
[ October 17, 2006 ]

$13 in Four Days on a "GoPhone"

We bought a GoPhone to test drive Cingular as we were thinking of moving our business account over to their service. After 4 days of active service, preloading the phone with $35, we turned the phone off, planning to evaluate our experience later. When the account history was pulled, in order to bill a client for the use of the phone, 24+ charges for Ringtones were found. Given this phone was only ever used for voice calls, this was extraordinary. After a 5 minute hunt for a phone number on Cingular's website, customer service was called. She assured me that someone had to have subscribed to what ever this was but she would refund the amount of the mystery charges. Note: no text messages were ever received by the phone. As a reflection of the dishonest, sneaky practice in place by Cingular, we obviously will not do business with this company. MAKE NO MISTAKE, this is a Cingular problem. The 3rd party billers are simply expoiting the opportunity that CINGULAR IS PROVIDING. The abuse of the customer rests solidly on the shoulders of Cingular. This is a scam and should be illegal as price fixing and oligopolies are.

Walt H
[ October 16, 2006 ]

Verizon Customers—File an "Exceutive Complaint"

Below is a link to an article in the Washington Post on how to get Verizon to respond to a customer complaint. I'd be interested to know if this works for anyone. I'm, btw, a Cingular customer and had no problem getting a credit from them for Blinko charges. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64483-2005Jan10.html.

[ October 14, 2006 ]

Jamster and the ISH

There's a new, actually fake, company. It's called The Ish. Don't be fooled, the company is owned and operated by Jamster. They are doing that because they know lots of people hate jamster..

i know
[ October 14, 2006 ]

Same Scam!!!

Same scam for me with the exception that I don't even have texting on my cell phone! Class action law suit is what it will take!

Tracey
[ October 13, 2006 ]

VERIZON PROMOTES THEFT!!!

Of course Verizon has no problem billing me $20+ a month while it lets Text Services, a "third party", email my 11 yr old son every Friday night with texts like "what are you doing?" so he can respond and get charged $5.99. Why is that Verizon can give me the number to call and complain and knows that it's a third party AND **COLLECTS THE MONEY FOR** these thieves that rob people out of millions of dollars a year, simply because some piece of crap ditz making $6.50 an hour with magically no boss, tells me I'm SOL? I don't think so, they do not know my resolve and I plan on getting back every dime whether I have to go to India and beat the crap out of 90 pound tekkie. STAND UP AND FIGHT!!!! respectfully, ONE PISSED OFF VERIZON CUSTOMER!

Brian
[ October 9, 2006 ]

M-Cube Fraud

Same here. The Internet is the only way to stop this. Let's do it!

Adam Berk
[ October 7, 2006 ]

Mobile Lifestyles

Mobile Lifestyles, Unlimited Ringtones, MEI or any other name this company goes by is a scam. If you find any of their charges on your phone bill, don't second guess that it might be your fault...Chances are it's not...you're being scammed. We've had way too many charges on our phone bill for them and have "stop/cancelled" through text message 9 times plus many an email to get them to stop, but we've continued to receive over $20 in charges every month since May. Finally, we've blocked all text messages from and to our phone. But from reading previous stories, I won't be surprised to see them on my next phone bill. In the meantime, I'm emailing them to receive a refund, which I will keep sending every day until I do. This will be taken care of, even if it has to be taken care of legally! Please do not take this illegal bullying.

Anonymous
[ October 3, 2006 ]

My Experience and an Open Letter to Verizon

First and foremost, thank you for the energy expended in this endeavor.

Hello,

I thought I'd relate my experiences -- in part to help others and in part to provide and update.

My current carrier is Verizon.

I discovered two Blinko charges in the "pending" bill. Not knowing what they were, I entered Prem_sms 42222 Blinko [in a search engine]—whereupon I discovered your page!

I read thru the posts and then called Verizon Customer Service. The first Rep I talked to (Peggy) gave me the diatribe of Verizon's not responsible, take it up with the third party, do you want their number, etc. I tried to explain that the "subscription" was not valid and for the most part, the conversation became and stayed antagonistic. I asked for her supervisor and was told I couldn't talk directly to him (Alex—no last name) but that they would respond back to me in 48 hours. The conversation went on for a bit (with me trying to get Peggy to see my point of view) during which she inadvertently began to "leak" information: Verizon is very aware of Blinko, Tech Reps are "filling in" as Customer Reps—there is a huge amount of calls. I told Peggy that what Verizon was allowing was causing me to second think my recent two year renewal last week whereupon she told me I'd have to pay $175. I immediately asked why she was mis-representing the facts and why she would not tell me that I was in the 15 day grace period and could easily avoid the 2 year obligation. It was at this point that Peggy told me she is really a Tech Rep and was "helping out." All Peggy would offer was to block all text messaging, a contact within 48 hours or to be put back in queue to talk to a real customer rep—but she could/would do nothing about the charges. I asked to talk to a Customer Rep and was put back on hold.

The second Rep I talked to (Roya), immediately reversed the charges after hearing my complaint. I thanked her, ended the call but couldn't keep from thinking about this current state of events with Blinko et.al. and Verizon.

So I Web'd some more research and then decided I wanted to compose an email to Verizon asking them to consider a few things:

1. Verizon is acting very much like a Credit Card company without the expected responsibilities of such (ever dispute a charge? do the CCCs ever tell you to 'call the 3rd party'?)
2. Verizon is acting on behalf of a contracted negotiation without adequate representation of/by me.
3. The only option to prevent this (and this would not benefit anyone that has already been 'subscribed') would be to totally block all text messaging and results in a sub-standard service.

I couldn't find a direct email, so I called back. The Rep I talked to (Elizabeth) showed me how to get to the "email page." I asked for the "direct email" explaining that I was not convinced that a "form" letter would suffice and that I wanted to be sure that the concerns I had were communicated "up the chain." Then I talked to Elizabeth about Blinko. At one point, she offered an explanation that she had heard (I'm assuming from other Reps) that Blinko was like the Psychic Hot-Line. I refuted this stating that the toll-number charging of yester-year (do they still do that?) is nothing like a "subscription." Hopefully no one else will get that argument. Anyway I asked if "they" knew that Blinko was offering adult content, Elizabeth let slip that Verizon is aware that 3rd parties are offering adult content. I asked what Verizon was doing about this and she replied "nothing" (okay, another bullet for my email). I asked why Verizon was not offering a service that allowed me to block all messaging from known adult content providers—she didn't know. Anyway, the conversation—though animated at times—remained civil. In the end, I believe she could see (indeed empathize with) my perspective...

Open letter to Verizon

Verizon, please consider:

• Know I will not be held hostage as you act as a credit card company without providing me the same services and rights that credit card companies now provide (by law).
• Since you tout "family": I require a cellular service provider that allows me to block the content (whether it be phone, internet or text) of providers that are determined (by your own volition and by consumer complaint/notice) to be providing adult content.
• Recognize that the "2 opt in" is subterfuge at best. I demand that you maintain applications for solitication of me and that no service is provided without my specific approval.
• Verizon, I will not wait "until it is law." I want it immediately. Yes, you will incur an expense and possible/probable reduction of revenue but it is right.
• and stop replacing the manufacturer's user interface.

v.
[ August 1, 2006 ]

The Charges Never Die

For about a couple of months earlier this year (2006), I kept getting these text messages which I couldn't understand or recognize who they were coming from. Soon after, I just deleted them without even reading them.

Day after day they would keep coming. It was annoying, but I didn't mind just deleting them. Then I got the bill. That's when I realized that I was being charged $.54 per text message that was sent to me regardless of whether I read it or not. The company was m-Qube inc. I called Cingular and straightened it out, or so I thought. I even disabled my ability to text message completely because I never use it anyway.

A month later I see $17.70 in charges for text messages for the month of June-July, all from
m-Qube. I haven't received a single text message or been on the internet at all during this
billing period. I spoke with a guy from Cingular who supposedly straightened it out for sure
this time. We'll see...

Jim
[ July 30, 2006 ]

Don't give up!!!! I didn't and finally got satisfaction!!!!!

In January of 2006 I looked at my bill and found some charges from MCUBE on my 13 year old daughter's phone. Soooooo I asked her she denied doing it. I didn't believe her and I called Cingular and suspended the phone and requested it to stop. This was January 27 of 2006. August 30th of '06 I took a close look at my bill again (mind you my daughter's phone is still suspended) and I see $50+ of charges from MCUBE after I looked at all my bill since January. I had been charged every month, so I call cingular again!!!!!! After 30 hours of my time I got $360 returned to my account and 3 free phones.

Tina
[ September 27, 2006 ]

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