Miscellaneous charge on my mobile bill - scam

GMJ

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I was checking my April bill and noticed a charge for a text outside of my allowed texts. It appeared as a charge to a company called pay2bill.

Investigations unearthed that this company is a mobile phone money charging platform and the charge related to a text I had sent in March.

Further investigations of my texts showed that I had received a text from a company called Ramsdens in March (a jewellery shop which I had never heard of and certainly didn't provide my details to) telling me that they were now open but with covid restrictions etc. I could opt out of further texts by sending the word STOP to a 5 digit number...which I did as there was no mention of charges to do so.

Whilst it isn't a big charge I;m bringing it to your attention just in case. I hear of scams with bank accounts where small amounts are taken - to test the water - prior to larger amounts. From now on unless they are making a nuisance of themselves, I'll just ignore random texts. I have emailed pay2bill and will also email Ramsdens...if I can find them!
 
Update

I have had a polite reply from the jewellery shop asking for more info and stating that they do not know who pay2bill are and that my provider (EE) must have levied the charge. EE specifically state on their website that it is not them. I have sent the shop a screenshot showing this plus a screenshot of the info showing the charge is directly related to the shop's STOP number.

The plot thickens...
 
I've my phone set to not make any calls or texts outside my allowance so it won't allow me to inadvertently call or text any premium rate numbers
 
Very wise, that's why you shouldn't reply to unsolicited emails either.
Yes, the invitation to use STOP shouldn't be used on unsolicited spam. At best it will signal to the scammer that they have a "live" number and you will be deluged with more of the stuff, at worst it will cost you money. It's actually a public service to forward these to 7726 in order to prevent others from being scammed - see Ofcom advice here. Your mobile service provider will then reply and ask for the number the text came from, and they should then deal with it.
If it's from a source you know is legitimate and you have given them your number in the past, then STOP can be used if you no longer want to hear from them
 

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