I come to you with warning about a text message scam. Last night I received a text message from the number 584-98 that stated:
MobibroIQ Fun Facts billed at $9.99/mo. Msg&Data Rates May Apply. Reply HELP for help. Enter UR password on the website to continue: 4647
Yeah, they have a website. No, I’m not linking to it. I merely ignored the text message as I figured it was a fishing expedition trying to get a reply from my phone to confim it’s a valid number. Fifteen minutes later I received the following message from the same number:
MobibroIQ: Welcome to IQ! For HELP call 18888906150 $9.99/mo. for 3msgs/wk. Reply HELP for help, Reply STOP to cancel. Msg&Data Rates May Apply
Then I received a third text message from the same number that stated:
Guest What? Unlike humans, crustaceans, insects and spiders have their skeleton on the outside of their body called the exoskeleton. For HELP call 18888906150
The first thing you need to know about any kind of scam, be it text message delivered or e-mail delivered, is that you should never respond to them. Instead I went straight to my AT&T billing statement and lo and behold a mystery charge for $9.99 appeared. The charge was listed under the AT&T Monthly Subscriptions section and had the following details:
03/13 Multiple Types
MistyMobileAlerts
Short Code: 94408 ID: 10186
Provider: Dream Audio
Contact: http://www.mxtelecom.com
Renew Date: 04/13/2012
It should go without saying that I didn’t sign up for anything, but it appears that the default behavior of an AT&T line is to allow random entities to sign you up for monthly subscriptions. As I’m not a very tolerant man when it comes to crap like this I called AT&T’s customer support and dialed 0 to talk to a real human being. After explaining my situation the customer support agent credited my account for the charges and put a block on text purchases. I didn’t even need to mention my ultimatum: credit my account or I’m leaving (as I said, I have zero tolerance for these kinds of scams).
Check your billing statement (you should be doing this every month anyways), especially if you receive any text messages from Mobibro IQ or the number 584-98. If you’re receiving the text messages I typed above then you’re likely being charged $9.99 a month on top of your regular bill. Give you carrier a call and I’m sure they will credit your account and block the number without much hassle.
Same thing happened to me. I got the text messages out of the blue… so did my wife… didn’t think much of it because we are on unlimited text plans. She didn’t get “subscribed” but I did. We think an application we downloaded from Play signed us up.
6. 03/30 Multiple Types: 9.99 0.00 9.99
MobibroAlerts
Short Code: 58497 ID: 36301
Provider: Mobibro
Contact: http://www.att.com/mobilepurchases
Renew Date: 04/30/2012
Total AT&T Monthly Subscriptions 9.99
OMG I’M SO PISSED! I just got off the phone with these mobibro people and ripped them a new one!!!!! My husband and I noticed a $10 charge on this cell phone bill and then a RENEWAL charge by same company for next months bill!!!! I had no idea what this charge was about, so I got the information from at&t and looked at some text messages I remember getting and ignoring, with the same number. I was BOILING MAD and called the company up where I demanded them to tell me how I got signed up for this. They told me I must have logged into the website and filled out in IQ test that will automatically sign me up for 9.99/ month charges on my cell phone bill. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? I’m a 35 year old working mom of 2. Do you REALLY think I’m going to find the time to log on to some stupid website to fill out a stupid IQ test and volunteer to pay $9.99 a month? UNBELIEVABLE! Needless to say, I told her that this scam they were running was completely unethical and that I demanded to talk to a supervisor. So long story short he said he is sending me a check in the mail. Which I don’t believe, so I’m calling at&t anyway. I cannot believe companies can get away with this!!!!!!!!
Kristy, just call AT&T and ask them to credit. They were very responsive and helpful. At that time, you can also ask them to block all subscriptions and they will. You can still sign up for things afterward but it will require you entering a PIN.
Yes, this is how it should be in the first place, but the rep at AT&T took care of the whole thing.
BTW, AT&T’s reps are great and they’re in the USA!
I already have texting BLOCKED, and have for over 4 years, and this $9.99 charge STILL made it to my account. I never received any text message, AT&T confirmed my texting is blocked, yet they still claim they are not responsible for it can “can’t control it but have a case open with this subscriber.” In other words, they cannot guarantee me that I will in any way be protected against any future charges. They refunded the $9.99 and put a block on purchases, but overall I’m very leery of any “promises” from them. It is beyond ridiculous that I still got charged for this despite texting BEING TURNED OFF FOR OVER 4 YEARS.
I just got off the phone with at&t. I had the charges removed from my bill no problem but here’s the thing..I spent five years working for At&t and know that these companies do this nonstop because large #s of ppl never look at their bill until after they get them for $50 or so. Then they assume their kids did it and the company gets away with it.
If you were scammed by this company you need to file a complaint with the FTC at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en.
When they receive enough this company will be investigated and possibly even sued for punitive damages by the government.
DO NOT let them get away with it. It literally takes only five minutes to fill this form out.
Cheers,
James Sides
Noticed today a $9.99 increase in my bill and it was due to MobiBro. If you see this in your bill, call AT&T immediately. They will refund the charge and stop the subscription.
I got a text from them 584-97 a couple weeks and did NOT reply HELP (as stated, NEVER reply), and got another text from today (this one a “factoid” about why flamingoes are pink). I logged onto my online account, and sure enough there is a $9.99 charge I never authorized. As the others stated, i called at&T, got a live person speaking flawless english, who quickly removed the charge, blocked future texts and text billing from my account. Stated I can see the changes on my account in 90 minutes to 4 hours.
Knowing AT&T, I’m not even going to wait to see it. AT&T remains GREAT at customer service, the rare complaints I have read notwithstanding. Sure, it’s shoddy that they allow 3rd company party billing for now (I think I read on the news recently that they are about to stop?, related to the increase in these unauthorized billings). Anyway, whether this has or hasn’t happened to you, with any provider, go ahead and get the text purchase billing block. You’ll be given a code/pin to allow to aurhorize any specific purchase. Again, my only low score of AT&T goes to them not making this the DEFAULT setting for text messages. This will make their score many “Tip of the hats” and ONE “wag of the finger”.
Follow-up to my post above from April 27th, 2012. I filed a complaint with the FCC that same day, and some from “the office of the president” at AT+T called me to follow up. They explained they were sorry for the billing issue, but said that this 3rd party billing was “never going to change” and that’s just the way it is. Moreover, all it takes to get one of these 3rd party charges is for someone to mistakenly type the wrong phone number, and BAM you get the charges for it. I explained how unsecure this billing was and that it was ridiculous AT&T lets a 3rd party control AT&T’s billing. Furthermore, the AT&T employee told me it’s in the contract I signed that it’s my responsibility as a customer to review my bill each month. AS IF IT’S MY FAULT! I did NOT have texting turned on in the first place, NEVER HAVE, and didn’t even have the ability to receive these texts, yet AT&T still makes it sound like it’s MY responsibility to see if I have any 3rd party billing errors. I just about cancelled my service. I am not going to be watching my account for errors every day. Had I not caught this soon enough, I would have paid for it already, literally. I had been set up on auto pay (not anymore!). If there are any more issues, I will indeed cancel. This is not worth it. The nature of the call itself was rather funny too. AT&T called ME (meaning a cold call). I did not call them. My account is protected with a pass code, in addition to the standard login password etc…., so I cannot do anything with this passcode. Anyway, “some guy” calls me claiming to be from AT&T and asks me for my pass code right off the bat. YEAH RIGHT! He apparently didn’t understand the irony of his request.