Now, I know the first rule of wrestle club is, well, y’know.

But I just got this unsolicited text;

FreeMsg: U Are A Member Of Wrestle Club @ app.gb.wweclub.net For £4/Week. Send stop wwe to 65909 to cancel. Help? 03333131613

And I don’t know how to respond. I’d better not be bloody charged £4/week, but is it just a scam to make me text stop and then they know my number? So, ignore, text stop (I never texted start, so why should I?) or call the number? WWSTWD?

Contact your provider and ask them to block charges from messages, it’s a blanket thing so no donate by text etc either. You’ll probably be billed for this one already.

How can I be billed for a message I have received and didn’t ask for? What a total scam! Not come across this before. Thanks

There was a thread about this kind of thing recently… apparently some rogue adverts (including this site? can’t remember) and Facebook links, if you click on them whilst browsing on your phone, can trigger these subscriptions.

I had it before with something a few years ago.
Can’t remember how or what it was, but I do remember I managed to get in contact with them by means that wasn’t text (therefore probably email). Phone provider was next to useless.
I managed to get them to refund me for 3 messages (all that they had sent) and got a code via text message that you take to a Post Office and they give you the cash.
It all seemed very professional and officially handled for what started out looking like a scam.
I may have googled the phone number or something. Apologies for being a bit vague.

EDIT: Google search for “65909 text” found this:

Were you on STW on your phone when it arrived?

Happened to a couple of people on here, including me and, I think, wrightyson in April.

There was a thread but I  can’t find it because, let’s face it,  the search facility isn’t very good.

Is it this?
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stw-chargeable-ads-a-psa/
I used da serch

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/adds-ok-but-adds-that-charge-you-sort-it-stw/

It all seemed very professional and officially handled for what started out looking like a scam.

Any reasonable person would consider it a scam but actually I think the way they work is 100% legal. I guess that a lot of people get charged for one or 2 weeks but can’t be bothered to jump through hoops to claim the money back, so there must be some profit in it.

Were you on STW on your phone when it arrived?

No, the phone was in my pocket, but I have been on today. Bloody irritating; any idea if there’s any settings I can adjust on my phone to stop this sort of thing happening? Surely websites shouldn’t be able to interrogate mobile devices for their telephone number? Or am I being naive?

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ermmm-explain-closing-of-my-complaint-regarding-ads/

I’ve done a bit of digging.

The domain in the SMS was registered for a single year back in February – the hallmark of a site that knows it’s not going to be around for long (ie, probably a scam).

The site says the service is provided by “PM Connect.” pmconnect.co.uk has been around since 2014, which would imply that what they’re doing whilst morally bankrupt probably isn’t technically illegal.

Googling PM Connect tells you all you need to know very quickly, the Internet is awash with complaints. They’ve been pulling this trick for years, click-through adverts which sign you up to subscriptions just cheaply enough that you might not notice them on your bill.

If you don’t reply, you will almost certainly be charged. Ie, the SMS isn’t the hook, you’ve already been hooked.

They list a contact email as wwe@mpay.co.uk – this domain was registered in 2012 (by PM connect).

The phone number on the SMS is also listed on the web page as their “helpdesk.” Calling it – and indeed, any 03 number – isn’t premium rate but will be billed as a regular geographic number, so is safe to call.

If it were me I’d call them to give them a bollocking, but it might be easiest just to do the STOP thing (try STOP ALL rather than the wwe it suggests).

If you’ve already been charged, the Phone-paid Services Authority is the regulator here. https://psauthority.org.uk/for-consumers/ive-been-charged-what-next . They also have a service checker which you can enter the short code into, this confirms the above information so the phone number is likely legit (though it lists a contact email of help@pmconnect.co.uk instead of mpay.) You can also report them from there.

HTH.

Find out where they are based and BOOM

Pretend to fall over and sue them!

Not this one but my partner got scammed by one of these ****. I don’t understand how it’s not breaking some rule as it’s deliberately missleading. They deserve a kicking.

Find out where they are based and BOOM

The PSA site I linked to gives you a geographical address…

Thanks all; I have achieved closure on this. I tried to send a ‘Stop’ message to the number supplied but just got a ‘message not delivered’ message straight away. I called Three, who were pretty good, confirmed nothing had yet been charged to me, and offered to put the total block on this sort of thing moving forward, they took all of the details and then rang the company for me. I then got to speak to a representative of the company directly, who (without apologising or admitting that they had done wrong) offered a ‘good will refund’ of four weeks subscription costs. Time will tell whether I’ll end up £16 up or they’ve managed to get £16 out of me first before the block was put in. They have also confirmed my desubscription. They also told me the exact date that I allegedly clicked on an advert and then again on a ‘subscribe’ button, and insisted that it was all above board and that I must have done it because it’s a two step process. We agreed to disagree on that one.

Did they happen to let slip which bicycle based website you were browsing at the time? 😂