[LINK] mobile phone spam

[Fred Pilcher]

Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> I left out a stupid and obvious question before: who was the sender? 
> (reply off-list if you don't want to put it on-list).
> 
> The reason I ask is that I would like to research the scam further on my 
> own account... it's the journalist in me!

:-( Don't know. It's a prepaid account so she doesn't get any statements 
- just calls to check her balance. I assume that I - or she - could find 
out from Telstra.

Until I got that e-mail from work I was skeptical. She swore that she 
hadn't responded to any offers for ring tones or anything else, and 
she's an honest kid. We'd talked about these "offer" scams in the past 
and she was well aware of how they work. While I trusted her knowledge 
and her honesty, in the back of my mind I couldn't help but have doubts.

But when I read that at work, the lights went on.

I've done a little following up and, from what I've been able to 
determine, the situation is legal and it's exactly as I described it.

Daughter called Telstra and they indicated that they could at least stop 
the deductions and implied that a refund might be possible. I offered to 
handle it for her but she asked to be allowed to do it, and I think it's 
important that she does. At sixteen she needs to start learning to deal 
with such things.

I'm going to let her see it through. I'll report any progress and see 
whether I can find out to whom the money went.

Fred