My cell phone signalled that I had received a text message. The message invited me to claim a sum of money for my car accident. There was the usual guidance to text 'yes' or 'no'. I asked my insurance company if they had passed on my details to accident chasers. Was the text, I was asked, suggesting I could obtain X number of pounds sterling if I claimed? To my surprise, the question mirrored my message . This person had received the same text, she said. I was advised to delete it and not reply, as there was no knowing from where messages emanated; it could be a costly reply. I was profoundly disturbed by this news as I had already replied, with a 'No'. It was the very first time I had received a scam text and I fell for it because of the lack of experience and because it fitted circumstances that were not so distant in the past.
On my bill were three calls outwith the cell phone package charges. One I recognised the other two were expensive 0870 phone numbers, and I puzzled over them. A bit of research showed, to my amazement, that these numbers were based in France! I had been charged for receiving a text and I was charged a higher amount for transmitting a response saying, 'No'.
Your cell phone tells you there is a text message to open, so, that's what you normally do. I have received yet another one of the text messages, and unfortunately, I opened it, though, this time I immediately deleted it. In all probability I will be charged for receiving the message. I now feel I can no longer freely open any text message I receive. In future, I will have to treat all text messages as suspicious.
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A touch moochy
1 hour ago
4 comments:
i usually delete any text that comes from a sender unknown to myself, you can't trust anybody these days!
Good Advice Ax. From now on, I will not be opening up messages without going to my inbox first and checking of I.D. It's a pain, but necessary.
ZACL,
I agree with both of you. I never can keep up with all these experiences. New one always comes up. It's a bit scary. But good thing is that I don't play games on the Internet and have no time to go to many sites.
A mobile phone message is in a different category to games. My phone is an old style model. I just want my phone to make and receive calls and text messages. It is this last issue that has been abused. From now on, I shall have to check in my in-box where a message is from.
Foreign messages and phone calls create extra charges, Keiko. For example, you pay your provider, the foreign provider takes a fee for handling the call or text and charges the recipient a fee for taking the call or text. That is what has happened to me, because I opened a text message. I then replied to it and my provider charged me for a foreign transaction.
Then, a month later I received another text exactly the same. I have opened the message, so now I will have to pay for receiving a message sent from a foreign country. I have not replied to it, I have deleted it.
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