Free mobile downloads scam: FREE may not be free after all!
Do you indulge yourself once in a while by downloading free mobile software on your personal cell phone? You know, like free mobile games, free ringtones or a free mobile wallpaper maybe. Well, those free mobile downloads may not be free after all…in fact you might be paying for them through your nose!
An investigation just concluded in Florida by the Attorney General for the state has laid threadbare an intricate scam involving network operators, bill aggregators, content providers and online advertisers. It was discovered that customers were illegally charged for subscriptions that were solicited as free to begin with.
The fraud has its tentacles as ads strewn allover online, hawking free mobile downloads to anybody who is interested. If you are tempted by their offers, you click the ad and key in your phone number to avail of the free downloads.
This sets off a chain of transactions. Your number is sold by the advertiser to the actual content provider for a few dollars. The provider raises a subscription against your number and informs the bill aggregator about the transaction. As the company that is responsible for advising the network provider about any additional charges incurred by the subscriber, the bill aggregator asks the network to mention the subscription fees in their monthly bill for your connection. When you unwittingly pay up, the profits are split three-ways between those involved.
As a subscriber, there is no way for you to find out. No details regarding the subscription are mentioned on your bill. It would be charged under such obscure headings like 3rd party downloadable content or Premium subscription services. If you query the network company you would get the same response: the charges are there because you must have availed of some third party service.
The scam was untangled when Attorney General, Bill McCollum, ordered an investigation into complaints from hundreds of network subscribers regarding inflated bills being forced on them by the network providers.
The fraud only underlines the need to know that nothing is probably free in our world. What is a cause for concern, however is that the whole scam seems to have been worked out in great detail by the parties involved. If true, then it is a big shame that big corporations should stoop down low and think about making money in this fashion. The very thought of multi-billion dollar corporations conniving with fraudsters is unsettling.
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March 3rd, 2008 at 8:05 am
Sad to read this. At the same time users are fooled, companies (using the same basic methods) but with honest intentions lose. They lose their user’s trust and with this their fundamentals.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:51 am
Yes. It IS a pity that honest, small businesses and budding, enthusiastic entrepreneurs also have to pay for what these organizations are doing.
But I think this would be the last thing on the minds of the gentlemen who run these big corporations!
March 4th, 2008 at 6:39 am
That’s very bad! Isn’t there any measures in billing system to capture those transactions, I mean the person to whom it’s been paid!
March 5th, 2008 at 1:57 am
No. There wasn’t UNTIL now!
Mobile operators have now been asked to provide details on the phone bill about various subscription services they were charging the customer for.
With this info, the customers can ask the operator to unsubscribe them from a service they had never subscribed to. Additionally they could also alert the law enforcement agencies and stop the scam from spreading by lodging a complaint with fcc.gov!
September 24th, 2008 at 8:26 am
is myxer.com free or r they just cheating us out
September 25th, 2008 at 9:08 am
@ silent…
Personally I have not experienced their service.
Yet, Myxer.com seems to be clean and good. The ringtones may not exactly be free if you take into account the internet downloading charges involved.
Maybe, readers who have used the site can answer this better…
Best Wishes!
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:16 am
all of those site are designed to lure stupid to the snare. everyone should know that nothing has been free since mc donald’s removed the free smiles slot from the menu board!!!
June 30th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Yes it is a scam…I had a bill for 75.00 last month and this month 71.00…my grand daughter it was free….she’s not 18…and you have to be ” 18 ” to sign in and its not free like it says…that is such a bunch of bull….