‘Poisonous’ rip-off text service that lures shoppers with £500 in vouchers is probed by watchdogs
People said they mistakenly joined the scheme that sends them texts at £4.50 a time by offer of top vouchers
A RIP-OFF text service that lures shoppers by offering £500 in vouchers is being probed by watchdogs.
People said they mistakenly joined the scheme that sends them texts at £4.50 a time.
They are promised the chance to win vouchers from top shops, which all deny links with German firm Claus Mobi, which runs the Play-Text service.
People try to claim vouchers by entering their phone number on official-looking websites.
They are then sent a text a week, offering a chance to enter a competition. It costs them £4.50 even if they don’t enter. Regulator PhonepayPlus is investigating.
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Fairer Finance called the scams “poisonous”.
Claus Mobi said pricing was clear on its websites and introductory texts, and players could cancel by texting STOP at a cost of 10p.