By Mary
Be advised to never respond to a pop-up under a Google search engine that you are the winner for your area and that you can win an I-Pad, I-phone or laptop computer. Skill2Trill Trivia is connected to this.
I was doing an academic Google search for academic articles for my PhD when a pop-up came up under this search engine indicating that I could win. Under normal circumstances I would never have thought to respond to a pop-up as such; however, considering the search engine being that of a scholarly related site, I thought it was legitimate. Alternatively, it was a complete scam! It had asked for my cell phone number and it would send me a pin number so that I would win. After submitting the pin number, which they sent immediately to my cell phone, the Skill2Thrill Trivia indicated that to increase my chances of winning, I was to respond to the text messages that would be sent to me.
Not only did I not win, I would have to pay to respond to text messages and pay three dollars per response to further my chances. Immediately, the text messages started coming. Of course I did not respond as I did not want to be charged $3.00 per response. Instead, I simply deleted each message. After being bothered with copious amounts of texts messages a day, I called the number to stop the texts. Upon calling, both customer service representatives, Anna and Jaydi were extremely rude, demeaning and condescending when asking about stopping the texts. They then explained that I had incurred $82.56 in charges for being sent the text messages. I was in complete shock. In speaking with the phone company, I should never have been charged for receiving the text message but rather for responding to the messages, which I never did.
This company is a complete scam! They refuse to refund my money and the small company bureau police investigation unit is pursuing this claim.
Be aware of the Skill2Thrill Cell Phone Trivia Scam and others of the sort. Even without responding to the texts, you still get charged for them sending them to you.
I will let you know the result of the investigation.
Partaker Beware!
hey says...
u must be really dumb
Robin says...
Sadly I have to say you should know better. All pops regardless of where they come from can be scams.
cyric says...
http://exposeliars.com/intforum/?p=23405&cpage=1#comment-2943
Mary, join the discussion here. Perhaps we can band together against these guys if your investigation doesn’t yield results.
Stephane says...
To unsubscribe from messages delivered to mobile devices, reply to the message with the words “STOP” or “END”.
This will stop these scams
Paul says...
Please sign my petition and pass it along to your friends.
http://www.petitiononlinecanada.com/petition/premium-text-messages-billing-practices-canada/334
Cheryl says...
Did you know that they ask for no verification of identity? They will charge anyone without any confirmation that the owner of the phone signed up for the service. This comes direct from their CSR after being billed for a service I never asked for, nor signed up for. Anyone can sign anyone up for this service, they “assume” the owner is the requester. That means an underage minor with no idea what’s happening could be costing you a fortune without knowing what they are doing!
Rick says...
I nearly got sucked in as well and I am a lawyer, also reasonably bright. Like you, I received the pop-up on a fairly reputable site and would not otherwise have given them my number.They did send me an email to which I never responded. I have not received anything since - no torrent of text messages thank God. I did realize what was going on and emailed my service provider (MTS Cellular) with a message not to accept any charges. I also emailed the company with a profanity-laden note telling them not to send me anything.
I would be interested in whether your cell provider is on board and not charging you. I certainly would not pay anything unless your cell company threatens you with disconnection. And if you are threatened by SkilltoThrill ignore them. They are not likely to do anything for a few dollars, but if they do, no small claims court is likely to find in their favor.
I often am hesitant to give any site my phone number for just this reason, but unfortunately many insist on it. If it is a questionable site I just make a number up.
RJH
Rick says...
Follow-up. I exchanged emails with my cellular provider who advise as follows:
- They cannot stop the charges
- By texting a reply to any message received, either “STOP” or in some cases “STOP1″ the messages will halt as the machine, not Skill2Thrill accepts the direction. This is a separate company which runs things for scams like Skill2Thrill and their computers are automated.
- This will work and my cell provider states they have never seen a case where it did not.
RH
Alex says...
I saw this advertizing on Rogers Website . I answered yes to a question if I want to win iPhone and input my phone numeber . I was under impression that this is Rogers web site..Then I started to receive Trivia questions which I didnt respond …Now I get a Bill from Rogers for 26 dollars…What a scam …I ll defenetly go to small court ….There is quite a simple questions: How such reputable company as Rogers can cooperate with such a scammers giving them both - their website and then acting as a billing party for them..???? Unbelievable….
Alex says...
Following up on my post October 16 th just want to share my today observation : seems that this “trivia” scam is everythere(WEB). It looks like “cyber cancer”. Going through my usual web browsing routine with news, gardening and tech staff I came across similar scams at least 4 times within 30 min time..BE AWARE!!!!! ..Sent message to Rogers asking for answers ..Will follow up..
Dennis says...
I also got stung on this scam and it was a work phone. I have no recollection of signing up to win anything or to play a game. I began receiving text type questions all of a sudden. I spoke to my supervisor about a problem with my phone but she was unaware, didn’t care or too busy. Months went by and no one advised me of my cell bill which had tripled in cost. All of a sudden I received a reprimand letter with threats in it advising I must pay all of these costs back to the company. I almost lost my job over this. I called the cell phone company and they gave me the number to this Skill2Thrill game. They seemed to be aware of this and had the number handy. When I talked to one of their service agents they advised me to send an email to customer service which I did outlining that this number was a work phone and that I didn’t activate this. I received a very rude answer and there was no way they would refund my money. I say we should start a class-action law suite against these people. I cannot believe that scams like this are allowed to go on.
helen says...
I was one of the victim too, please beware. I thought just the one time deal and after they keep sending me text. And only if you response to their text then you will get charge but I was wrong. I ended up paying 80$ for the stupid trivia.
Colleen says...
I have had no problems with this company. I don’t mind paying $2.00 for the questions. I have won a few things so far and have recieved them. If I don’t want to continue recieving the messages then I simply send a STOP reply. I have checked my cell phone bill and have not been charged and the Skill2Thrill company had not asked me for money for the questions. Believe what you people want.
joanne says...
We we were billed approximately $500.00 for a whole year’s worth of this skill2thrill garbage. We had been receiving messages all along on our cell phone but were not aware that we were being charged, in fact we were ignoring the messages until we phoned Rogers to ask them to stop the harassing texts. Rogers should not allow these scam artists to do what they do. Rogers makes it so easy for these sleezy people by collecting money for them and insisting that we pay or they will cut our phone service. A class action law suit is what skill to thrill deserves. They are not supplying a service to anyone all the while collecting handsomely. Companies like these should be wiped out.
Darrell says...
We just received our phone bill and was charged $42.00 for this Skill2Thrill scam…We e-mailed our cell provider and threatened getting a lawyer involved if they did not credit our account for these charges…They e-mailed us back and said that they are crediting our account as we speak…
Julia says...
You guys *really* need to read the fine print on these ads - you know, the stuff where it says you’ll be charged $X amount per text, what you can do to stop it, heck - the ads flat out SAY they’re a premium text messaging service! I’m sorry, but anyone who seriously participates in one of these “contests” is a gullible, foolish idiot in my book.
bk says...
I was also the scum victim of this silly trivia. I have paid more than 150. I was in the impersssion that the the huge amount in my bill was a charge that I made a call while in USA. But I niotice again a huge amount when I get back from my trip. I could not belive the charge. I call my provider,fido and i was told it was from third party charge Called Skill2Trill Trivia. I indicated to my provider and to the third party I will not pay the bill(extra bill apart from my povider). If they want to discontniue the service because of third party I told them so be it.To me it looks the service providers are behind this scum. So lets join force and go against this scum.
Bk
Carolanne says...
Calling people dumb is rude and cruel. My elderly mother fell into this lovely little scam. If you can’t contribute in a positive way keep your mouth shut!!!!!
Carolanne says...
Calling people dumb is rude and cruel. My elderly mother fell into this lovely little scam. If you can’t contribute in a positive way keep your mouth shut!!!!!
Carolanne says...
By-the-way she was charged $54 but she didn’t pay. I called Rogers in no certain terms would she be paying this!
Margaret says...
We are having the same problem here - expats living in Qatar. Luckily this is my daughter’s new phone and the charges have been just for 2 weeks. She absolutely did not click on any website - she swears and has been charged approx $75 USD so far. Checking with our mobile phone provider now to see if they will reverse the charges. Also texting STOP to stop future charges. Thanks for the advice.
Helen says...
Hi Margaret, also in Qatar, just wanted to clarify as my boss has been getting this regularly on his phone, so have replied stop to the number and this def works? Sometimes in the UK when you do this it simply verifies that the number is in use so you get more of the same…
Thanks for all the help guys.
madhu says...
hi this is big scam on my prepaid phone they deducted the 80 $ from the prepaid amount with in a month, we did not sign, never open a website.
pl. be carefull
Aamir says...
SOLUTION FOR SKILL2THRILL problem.
This skill2thrill company is stealing money from many people across various countries. In saudi arabia, they steal 5 Riyals from STC and 12 Riyals from Mobily and Zain (I think).
To get rid of this problem on STC, do these steps:
send all to 805218. This will tell u the number of subscriptions you have with a message like this:
Welcome to Test
Your subscriptions are:
Service: content
ChannelID: 6
To cancel your subscription, send U followed by a space and then the channel ID to 805218.
DO NOT LEAVE THIS UNTIL U GET THE FOLLOWING MSG:
You have been successfully unsubscribed from service content.
and to check again if this curse is still following you, send again U 6 to 805218 and you must get this msg:
Dear customer, you have no subscription to any service.
Till now I have done this BUT haven’t tested if this problem is fully resolved!!!
MAY ALLAH CURSE THESE PEOPLE WHO DO SUCH THINGS TO HARM OTHERS.
If you find it useful, do pray for me,
Aamir
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