Ok, I did try and find another name for it, but alas, I just couldn’t!
Whilst editing and updating my facebook page, let me say, I just love the application, the way it works and how everything is integrated into a couple of actual pages, they take the Internet social networking scene to a new level.
Browsing is today, I had this message come up, one which has been bugging me, let me illustrate it in a picture…
So, this is the image which came up, ok, it’s on facebook, facebook doesn’t lie, right???
Well, going into the “IQ Test” <(quotes around that for good reason, more on that in a sec…) I found that there is a little disclaimer, conveniently places underneath the flash page, where you cannot see it, and one of those ones that I just don’t read, hey, I wanted OFF my friends dumb list, right?
SO I proceed into this 10 question “IQ Test” (see, told you I would tell ya :)) and it’s nothing more that ten pretty simple questions, then, at the end, I get this box!
SO, I read the bottom, which is conveniently hidden, and doesn’t show up when I click the ‘privacy policy’ and of the many words, they say that I will be charged more than $50 per month for completing this test (let alone the $6.60 for giving you an “IQ Test”) and I have to OPT-OUT to not be charged.
This is truly a scam and I hope facebook will remove this.
I have contacted them regarding this but have as yet received a reply, will eagerly await this message disappearing from my screen.
I have totally been scammed, I have said stop and been told that I am unsubscribed from services but still get texts and charges. I cannot afford this and I am on a contract so I don’t know what I can do now!!
In Australia you could probably contact the Ombudsman for this kind of thing but it’s definately hard, you won’t get help fromt he telephone provider because they are making bucket loads and they claim it’s not thier responsibility.
So how do we get off this thing?
I talked to Verizon today. After you text the ‘stop’ and recieve confirmation, your provider can block premium text services for the future. Personally, I’m deleting my Facebook profile; I have zero tolerance for this crap.
thanks to all who wrote about this problem. the thing that really ticks me off is that they listed some of my friends who took the test. i emailed one of them and he didn’t know what i was talking about.
anyway, it cost me $9.99 to realize i’ve been taken but verizon was great about ending any further charges. i even went as far as blocking any of these scams from all the lines on my plan. small silver lining but it’s my own fault.should’ve known better.
Alas, the problem’s only gotten worse. They now include the names of your friends and their “scores” (most likely generated by a machine at random). And, just today, they started including my friends’ PICTURES in this thing. It’s fucking creepy.
thanx, i’m glad i checked it out before paying, will tell my buds
cheers fellas
I called Verizon and they gave me full credit and blocked the number.
My wife got caught in the scam. We lost about $60 on it. It seemed innocent enough. She called Verizon and blocked the charges. I don’t access facebook often enough to even know that the scam was there.
There are some real privacy issues at play here. Many of the innocent quiz/apps on facebook require you to accept first that the developer will access your profile AND your friend’s profiles.
So even if you stay clear of any apps on facebook, if just one of your friends does one of the quiz/apps, the developer has access to their friend’s profiles. Meaning YOUR profile.
Doesn’t matter what your privacy settings are set at – they get access to your photos/info/etc.
Scary
My nephew did the same thing, he got on to facebook and try this iq test (mymindquiz.com) and gave his cell phone number to receive a pin and then started a series of text messages every few seconds.
I immediately called T mobile and asked them to block these text messages and they were very helpful . They asked to me to send “STOP” to the number I was receiving texts form and that costed me 9.99 but they credited my account with that amount. So I didnt loose any money. Thanks to T mobile. She also said that the reason show could do that is because I reacted immediately after very fistr text , if I had waited then she would not be bale to that.
The wife did this without seeing the policy and we got signed up twice for these services. I called Verizon, and then went back to the store after getting ticketd off with their ‘automated’ phone system. The store rep was nice enough to help me cancel the ‘service’ and I had him block all texting/email/ etc as we use this phone as a phone and that is all. He then gave me the contact information to dispute the charges.
I called ‘Semdme.com’ and demanded that they stop and that they refund my money. When they started to give me some line about ‘the policy notice’ I told them that they have no way of knowing who put the number in to the website. The rep did tell me that they showed a cancel for the account. I then demanded my money back. I was told that I would get a check in 4-6 weeks.
I did get the check about a month later. Two days later my I get the notice for my next phone bill and I have another $20 charge for data. Now I have to start this whole mess over again it would appear. I am about to start making calls. I’ll update here when I am done.
I’ve always hated cellphones and right now I am finding it incredibly hard to justify keeping one if I cannot control the billing of it.
-Todd from Minnepolis.
Ok, that was quick.
I called Verizon again and talked to an incredibly friendly rep named Marcella. She did show that I had opted out of the scam, but that the opt out had taken so long to apply that it had rolled in to the next billing cycle. Verizon said that they would credit me the charges. The down side is that I will need to pay the $20 this month, but then next month I will be credited the money back (so the next effect is $0 after three months of this little nightmare – Charged $40, repaid $20 by check and $20 by cellphone bill credit).
I did find out that you can protect yourself from this by having these kind of services blocked. You need to call your cellphone company and have them put a block on your line for ‘premium texting services’ and you need to ask for it on each line you carry (I have two phones).
Of course they don’t tell you about this kind of crap when you buy the phone, so do the world a favor and spread the word.
-Todd from Minneapolis
You can protect yourself from this by having these kind of services blocked. You need to call your cellphone company and have them put a block on your line for ‘premium texting services’ and you need to ask for it on each line you carry (I have two phones).
Of course they don’t tell you about this kind of crap when you buy the phone, so do the world a favor and spread the word.
-Todd from Minneapolis
*Legal Advertisement* If you have been ripped off by this scam, I would like to talk to you about a class action we are investigating arising from this false advertising. If you are interested, please email me at jyoss@younesi.com, or call me at 310-478-5722. I am located in California and you can review my bar standing on http://www.calbar.org.
I am in Australia and I got stung by the same scam. It would be interesting to start a class action here.
Bob From Australia
Firstly call your phone provider and put a block on the calls , In the UK the scam company Is Entertone 08081203628 call them
lodge your complaint insist you want your money back, all so !!!!! MAKE SURE YOU TELL THEM TO TAKE YOUR DETAILS OFF OF THERE DATA BASE
I HAVE BEEN A VICTIM OF THE TEXTS IQ SCAMMMMMMMMERS THAT I DID NOT SUBSCRIBE TOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND HAVE TRIED TO FIX IT WITH THE VIRGIN WITH NOT LUCK AS YET AND NOT WANTING TO HELP I FOUND OUT THAT ITS A COMPANY CALLED ENTERTONE WHOM ALSO IS LINKED TO A COMPANY CALLED MOBILE SERVICES DESK AND SAID THEY ARE JUST UNSUBSCRIBING PEOPLE AND A USED AS A 3RD PARTY TO THIS SCAM WHEN I READ OUT THE TRADES AND PRACTICE ACT AND THE TIO THEY BECAME SILENT AND SAID ALL THEY DO IS UN SUBSCIBE PEOPLE I SAID I DIDNT SUBSRIBE TO ANYTHING SO HOW CAN YOU UNSUBSCIBE ME …..I DIDNT SIGN JACK SHIT !!! WHEN I ASKED WHERE THERE LOCATION WAS THEY SAID AUSTRALIA …….LIARS , SO I ASKED WHAT WAS THERE ADDRESS SO THAT I COULD SEND THEM SOME DOCUMENTS AND THEY SAID THAT THEY COULDNT PROVIDE TO ME THAT THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED SHOCK AS THEY ARENT IN AUSTRALIA ….MORE LIKE THE PHILLIPINES OF WHICH THE MAJORITY ARE NOW ANYWAY , ITS NOT THE PEOPLE THAT CALL YOU ITS THE COMPANIES THAT CHOOSE THESE LOW PAID PEOPLE TO COP THE FLACK FOR THESE THIEVING SCAMMERS …….VIRGIN KEEP TELLING ME THAT I HAVE TO TAKE IT UP WITH ENTERTONE OF WHICH I CALLED THE NUMBER PROVIDED TO FIND OUT THAT THAT IT IS A 3 PARTY AND ALL THEY DO IS UNSUBSCIBE I SAID HOW CAN YOU UNSBUBSCIBE ME WHEN I NEVER SUBCRIBED THEY GAVE ME ALL THIS BULLSHIT TALK AND SAID I HAD TO GO TO THE SERVICE PROVIDER BEING VIRGIN WHICH I DID AND THEN IT HAS BECOME A TENNIS BALL MATCH GOING ROUND IN CIRCLES …THE FIRST MANAGER TOOK IT OFF THEN IT REAPEPARED BACK ON THE BILL FOLLOWING MONTH SO THIS HAS BEEN NOW SINCE FEB AND IM TIRED OF IT , FOR ME ITS NOT THE MONEY BUT THE PRINCIPAL OF THE SCAMMING LAW BREAKERS AND THE PHONE COMPANIES HAVE TO BE INVOLVED CAUSE THERE THE ONE COLLECTING THE MONEY …RICHARD BRANSON SURELY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THIS CRAP IS GOING ON ..IN AUSTRALIA ACMA THE LAW IN COMMUNICATIONS OF SUCH TEXTS IS ILLEGAL FOR SUCH SOLCITING YOU CAN CHECK THE WEBSITE AND THE COMPANY CAN BE FINED UP TO 1.1 MILLION …
SO I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF ANY AUSTRALIANS THAT HAVE A LEGITAMENT CONTACT IN AUSTRALIA THAT CAN ASSIT IN ME IN THIS REGARD THANK FOR READING THIS LOVE THE HELP
What they are doing is NOT legal no matter what they claim – they are breaking FTC rules on fair disclosure and are using deceptive advertising practices. There are several laws against what they are doing.
Where to file complaints: FTC https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
http://www.econsumer.gov
I just got in touch with the company that is doing this. It is http://www.sendmemobile.com
phone #’s are 1-877-373-6363 and 1-877-402-3687/. If you bring up this company and give them your phone # that you gave for the I.Q. test they will stop. Call your carrier and they will issue a block on those #’s. Also the contract says a 90 day money back guarantee. They took my name and address and they are supposed to send me a check. He (Frances) from the company was not forth coming about giving me my money back until I told him that he had better in that three week time period or else I was going to call back and then go to the Attorny General’s office in Connecticut and file a complaint.
Pass this information along to all who got caught in the scam.
Best of Luck
Andrea
I fell into this this morning. My luck I was checking my phone account this evening and noticed a $9.99 charge for a download ( I even checked my phone for any new apps that got installed… nothing). Called TMobile right away and complained… lady said, you have no idea how many calls we get for this kind of scam. She credited and blocked my device from getting messages from this place… mymindquiz.com and a number that looks like a phone number 877-707-1775 ( the text message came from 25692)