Sunday, April 29, 2012

For all you "smart" phone users out there

I just had a disturbing thing happen...  I received a text message yesterday that looked like this:

     IQQuizApp Fun Facts billed @ $9.99/mo 3msgs/wk renews on 05-01-2012. Reply HELP for help, 
     Reply STOP to cancel. Msg&Data Rates May Apply. 8888906150 for help

So of course I immediately replied "STOP"...but then today I realized there was this mysterious $9.99 charge on my Verizon phone bill, which actually happened from another one of these messages last month!  I thought I had replied STOP to that also and for sure I didn't ever authorize a charge...so I called Verizon just now and got it all straightened out very easily.  The kind lady that helped me immediately removed the charge from my bill, made sure the one from yesterday won't be charged, and blocked "Premium messaging" on my phone (which I figured out I could have done myself -- it's free, either way -- except I didn't know what it was.)  Anyhow, it's disturbing that this kind of thing goes on, and apparently it isn't illegal.  So here's a heads up to all of you with "smart" phones to watch out for this kind of thing, and if you're on Verizon you can circumvent the nastiness by blocking premium messages on your account on the Verizon website or calling them and asking them to do it.

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