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| 900 number fraud [message #141490] |
Tue, 05 February 2008 06:24  |
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Originally posted by: gewart@hotmail.com
I received a fraudulent charge on my phone bill which was a call to a 900
number and had a charge of $35.00.
Centurytel said they couldn't take off the charge. Go to MCI Communications,
MCI Communications said they couldn't take of the charge. Go to the company
that made the charge.
The charge was made by a fly by night company in Delray Beach Fl which has a
host of sites for all kinds of sports betting.
Everyone denied being responsible or having the authority to remove the
charge.
I filed a complaint with the Missouri Attorney General's Office Consumer
Fraud Division.
The AG sent a letter to the main comany Champion Communications LTD at 1801
South Federal Highway Suite 300, Delray Beach Fl. 33483 phone 561-272-5667
fax 561 279 9496.
I received a reply from Albert J. Angel, general Counsel for the Company
that suggested some in the family or an intruder or a tap on my line or
several other possible reasons that the charge came on my bill. It was
certain that no one in his company just stuck the charge on my bill.
I contacted my County Court and received a copy of a small claims actions
form. It costs $35.00 to file on my county court.
I listed my local phone company, MCI Communications, Champoin Communications
and each officer of champion communications.
I asked for the $35.00 plus in Missouri I can sue for up to $3,000.00. Which
I did. Also, if there is the intent to defraud, I can also ask for legal
fees (consulting with an attorney) and tebele damages, which would bring the
total to $9,000.00.
I faxed the intention to sue to the local phone company, MCI Communications
and Champion Communications, which went to Albert J Angel, General Counsel.
I guess Mr. Angel did not want to come to Missouri to defend his false and
fraudulent charges onmy phone bill. He sent me a fax that Champion
Communications will send me the $35.00.
If you see any 900 charges on your phone bill and it goes back to 1801 South
Federal Highway in Delray Beach Fl. You can bet it is a scam.
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| Re: 900 number fraud [message #141518 is a reply to message #141490 ] |
Wed, 06 February 2008 07:31  |
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Originally posted by: im_gumby@hotmail.com
On Feb 5, 5:24 am, "George Ewart" <gew...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I received a fraudulent charge on my phone bill which was a call to a 900
> number and had a charge of $35.00.
[SNIP]
>
> If you see any 900 charges on your phone bill and it goes back to 1801 South
> Federal Highway in Delray Beach Fl. You can bet it is a scam.
Good work!
But you may want to make sure that someone in your house or had access
to your phone line actually did call any number.
You'll have the date and time of the charge.
If you are using handsets that communicate to a base station. Make
sure that they're one of the later models that use 2.5GHz or the 5GHz
band and have some sort of handset to base station security. In the
"old" days, the 900MHz models had no security, so you could take one
handset and use it on your neighbor's phone. That could be a bigger
problem.
Also if you have kids, see if they did it.
There are laws governing these 900 numbers and minors.
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| Re: 900 number fraud [message #141520 is a reply to message #141490 ] |
Wed, 06 February 2008 07:31 |
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Originally posted by: gordonb.btss6@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)
>I received a fraudulent charge on my phone bill which was a call to a 900
>number and had a charge of $35.00.
This same sort of thing seems to be done on cell phones with text
messaging a lot. Because "they" got your number, "they" seem to
think they are allowed to send you a text message and get a cut of
what you pay from your cell phone carrier. (I *pay* to send text
messages or receive them. They seem to *get paid* to send them.)
The carrier seems to think that's perfectly OK when some rogue
advertiser gets your phone number via Javascript when you browse
some website with, say, Google ads (Google ads have contained malware
before). No, I didn't sign up for any alerting service. Whether
or not there is a separate charge for their "service", I don't know
yet.
>Centurytel said they couldn't take off the charge. Go to MCI Communications,
>
>MCI Communications said they couldn't take of the charge. Go to the company
>that made the charge.
>
>The charge was made by a fly by night company in Delray Beach Fl which has a
>host of sites for all kinds of sports betting.
>
>Everyone denied being responsible or having the authority to remove the
>charge.
Sounds like the cellular carrier. Oh, yes, to turn it off, I was supposed
to send a text message, which is *ANOTHER* charge.
Oh, yes, the "service" being provided looks suspicously like a stock
pump-and-dump scam. Is there any service like that which is actually
*legal*?
>I filed a complaint with the Missouri Attorney General's Office Consumer
>Fraud Division.
>
>The AG sent a letter to the main comany Champion Communications LTD at 1801
>South Federal Highway Suite 300, Delray Beach Fl. 33483 phone 561-272-5667
>fax 561 279 9496.
>
>I received a reply from Albert J. Angel, general Counsel for the Company
>that suggested some in the family or an intruder or a tap on my line or
>several other possible reasons that the charge came on my bill. It was
>certain that no one in his company just stuck the charge on my bill.
>
>I contacted my County Court and received a copy of a small claims actions
>form. It costs $35.00 to file on my county court.
>
>I listed my local phone company, MCI Communications, Champoin Communications
>and each officer of champion communications.
>
>I asked for the $35.00 plus in Missouri I can sue for up to $3,000.00. Which
>I did. Also, if there is the intent to defraud, I can also ask for legal
>fees (consulting with an attorney) and tebele damages, which would bring the
>total to $9,000.00.
>
>I faxed the intention to sue to the local phone company, MCI Communications
>and Champion Communications, which went to Albert J Angel, General Counsel.
>
>I guess Mr. Angel did not want to come to Missouri to defend his false and
>fraudulent charges onmy phone bill. He sent me a fax that Champion
>Communications will send me the $35.00.
>
>If you see any 900 charges on your phone bill and it goes back to 1801 South
>Federal Highway in Delray Beach Fl. You can bet it is a scam.
>
>
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| Re: 900 number fraud [message #143807 is a reply to message #141520 ] |
Sat, 16 January 2010 22:46 |
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I opened a bill from this company today for web access. I know it's a scam for a couple reason. First, the day it has the charges (7 different 900 numbers total)is all on 10/02 of this year spaning an hour and 15 minutes. That particular day I was at work and my husband at his parents in another town. We are the only two with keys to the house and no one else lives or visits but my inlaws and they have never touched a computer before (bleave my, I tried to get them to play games or do the googleing themselves). Second, we use our local phone company for internet access and when we got service 7 years ago, we placed a block on 900 numbers and long distance and other frills. We have no wifi for anyone to tap into.
The total bill is for $293.37 for a total of 55 minutes. They sent us the 'bill' seprately because they don't have an arrangment with our local company...well, duh, cause we have it blocked! It's Saturday night, so I'll have to call them Monday morning before I leave for work.
I'll have to check in Michigan and see what legal options are available to me if needed....thanks for the idea.
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| Re: 900 number fraud [message #143955 is a reply to message #143807 ] |
Fri, 23 April 2010 23:35 |
jycegrcia
Messages: 3
Registered: April 2010
Location: uk |
Junior Member |
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This company is scam,I don't believe it on it for any reason.Once the company charged me more on my bill which I don't know for what reason it was.I tried everything so that they can remove the fraud charge but nothing helped me out.
compromise agreement
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| Re: 900 number fraud [message #144022 is a reply to message #143807 ] |
Mon, 10 May 2010 20:36 |
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I did more digging.
First let me state that the police where no help. Cause 1.)I had the phone company pull up the calls made on those days and it does show that calls were made from my house...but those where to phone number, no internet sites which I am being charged for; 2.) there is a call to my inlaws that ended 15 minutes before the the calls where placed; and 3.) we admit that we look at 'adult' sites, but they are FREE sites and galleries that you don't have to register for. Since the phone bill is in my name and the 'bill' came in my husbands name, he would have to register and he's too paranoid about accidently getting charged from a site to do that (he is not computer sauve and has to ask me how to do things). I came to find out from the phone company that we no longer have a 900 blocker on the phone. It must have occured when the phone was disconnected in September, but they couldn't tell me when.
Now, back to the story: I did some digging and calling and what I found out on my first call is that they said that the 'calls' (note they aren't calling them web addresses or anything to denote that these charges are supposedly from 'web access') are for games. Okay, maybe it's for online poker or a game about hunting, that would be plauseable as those are the only two games the hubby is interested in. So I hang up and ask Bert about it, he said no, we have a poker game and hunting game for our PS2 and PS3 so he's been playing those and not online.
I call back for time number two and ask for information on the sites and to double check that they are ALL for gaming and not porn. The guy says it's for wrestleing (wresteling?) and no porn....I know that is a lie because I know, to quote my husband, "wresteling is gay" (please don't be offended). I call my phone company with this tid-bit since they had called one of the number when they pulled up the called out log and got a porn number. The operator said to call the number on the 'bill' and just stay on a few seconds to see if they are gaming sites.
I called each of the number we are being billed for (remember how it's web access for the charges?) and I got through to each one and, yup, they were all porn. I only stayed on long enough to hear heavy breathing, 'are you lonley' or the tale tail 'bonk-chi-chi-bow-bow'. Quick question for someone who is smarter than me: Is this really possable that I can call a 'web access' number and get a connection? I thought that you'd just get static.
So on to round three. I called them again, confirmed that the charges are for gaming and no porn (again the answer afermativly) then I ask them why then did I get porn lines when I called them. Suddenly, the story changed to the charges are for games and 'personal' which is code for porn. I told them again that I wasn't paying for something we didn't do and hung up.
Despite the damning evidence of the calls out, I found receipt showing that my husband picked up a water pump for the car in the middle of those calls. I would need a lawyer or the police to get any video of it, so says the used car parts place. Plus there is some cercomstancial events to back us up.
Anyways, that is where we stand on the matter.
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