Giffgaff, you really need to consider stopping your collaboration with these scammers!

[#1]

I've always thought of myself as of a mindful and careful user, not a geek, but not a noob either 

Yet, this morning I have received this:

Obviously, they never obtained any explicit concent from me. This was hidden and cloaked as hell.

I wasn't even browsing "one of these" websites in case you wonder.

The premium texts are switched off in my profile but guess this isn't really relevant. 

Bottom line - giffgaff, you really need to protect your members from these scammers.

And yes, it can be done if there was some goodwill ftom your side, giffgaff - not every MVNO allows premium subscriptions. 

Annoyed as hell. 

[#2]

@glaswegianeric giffgaff does not "collaberate" with these scammers. tjey kust allow premium texts and numbers, so that people can use this services. Unfortunately you have been tricked....

[#3]

@rickvigorous

In my books, "collaborate" is the very word.

It doesn't necessarily mean that giffgaff specifically plot something together with these scammers. You don't necessarily have to do stuff to take part in something - no action to prevent often equals to action to support.

[#4]

I believe collaborate to be a fair choice of word, particularly as giffgaff receive an income from each and every successful scam.
Of course they should provide an opt out, or introduce further verification as some other networks have introduced.

[#5]

I too was hit by the same scam a few months ago and, as I will not allow myself to be attacked by these thieves, I have deliberately kept my call balance to under £2 since then.They did not even manage to steal the initial £4.50, but as a five year plus member, I was reluctant to do this. If GG and other network operators fail to clamp down on this scandal, the overall mobile industry could eventually suffer damage.. As an example, my 'alternative' network, although not apparently hit by the scam, only receives £2 top ups from me, just in case.                                                                                                        Apparently, the purchase of Goodybags directly, rather than via call balance top ups, is the way to avoid being hit (but Goodybags do not suit all everyone, including myself) 

[#6]

I think it's fair to say that giffgaff and all other networks that adopt the same policies are doing everything they can to help the Payforit scammers and nothing to stop them.They're helping the scammers in two ways:-

1,they display our mobile number to every website we visit in our browser headers which is how the scammers are able to use invisible scripts running on web pages that harvest your mobile number and then make an unauthorised charge to it.

2,they refuse to give customers the facility to bar "charge to bill" payments.

So unless these policies are changed and I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen,giffgaff and all other networks that work the same way,are the Payforit scammers best friends.

[#7]

@woodyuk

On a side note, the irony is that with giffgaff I can't use "charge to bill" to pay for a flipping app in the Play Store, but when some scammer wants to charge me for some "the best weekly crap for your money" subscribtion - it's easy peasy.

Another irony - giffgaff allows you to bar OUTGOING premium texts, those kind of texts that users need specifically action to be sent, yet sneaky incoming chargeable texts that users got zero control over - most welcome.

[#8]

What’s even worse is that the regulatory authorities are not doing much about this even though the are widely aware of the issues and pushing on to the network providers. 

As if they are there to protect helpless consumers. 

[#9]

@persco

Clearly suits the government and mobile networks alike.

I mean, come on, as if there's even a market for £X/month/week "daily joke / best fart tunes" or similar phone subscriptions in 2018. Everyone and their cat know that any company offering such services are 99.99% scammers but they all pretend not to notice.

The ONLY premium texts model that can be justified is the one where user triggers a payment by specifically sending a text to a premium number.

[#10]

I totally agree, giffgaff should allow people to bar such usage, I'd even argue that it should be switched on by default.

I know my Three contract used to and my Vodafone contract does. I think actually, now all contracts do if the £0 cap is applied, (user choice but all contracts have the facility now thanks to ofcom rules).

UPDATE: The spending cap doesn't stop this kind of thing but this does.

(External screenshot because image uploads aren't working).