I've just been scammed, beware!!!

[Mrs M]

This is a competition which I received by email. The mail was from 'Gift Voucher Giveaway' subject 'Win 500 pounds worth of ASDA vouchers‏'

Have a look but don't enter your phone number. If you enter phone number they will send you a message which costs £1 and you are subscribed to 4 questions a week. If you want to unsubscribe you havet to text them the word STOP, this costs £5. It does tell you all this in the small print but I usually enter loads of competitions and automatically click to agree to terms and conditions( I know, I know, it's my own fault). Anyway, this is just to warn others not to fall for it.

http://www.wixawin.com/uk/ads/asdaPin.aspx?token=cabba5cbb4feb849b85e2f10b5a43ad9156.1867.9983..

 

[tek-monkey]

Says you are only subscribed after replying to a free text they initially send? Also:

2) How do I unsubscribe from the service?
There are four ways to stop the service:
1: Via text/sms: You can opt-out at any time by sending 'STOP' to 81121. You will be unsubscribed immediately.
2: Via e-mail: You can send an e-mail containing the phone number that needs to be unsubscribed to info.uk@wixawin.com. You will be unsubscribed within 24-hours (between business hours, otherwise on Monday after the weekend).
3: Via telephone help line: customers can call the live help line number 08707502929 (standard rate, during business hours).
4: Via our unsubscription form.
The customer will be unsubscribed within 24-hours (on business days).

Also says the fiver is a sign up fee? I presume you replied to the text they sent? Is a pain, imagine if one of your kids did this!

 

[Mrs M]

I didn't spot the bit that says you are only subscribed after replying to a free text they initially send? I did not reply to text and emailed them immediately requesting to be unsubscribed. I thought I'd already gone too far,
we'll see in the next 24hrs. Cheeky buggers though, they even make the site look a little like Asda's although if you really look into it it looks nothing like Asda's site.

 

[db]

i see what you mean about making it look like an asda affiliated site.. can't imagine asda would be particularly happy about that - that whole offer is well dodgy!

 

[Silverfish]

Can you protest to Ofcom? I would've thought this is illegal.

 

[Mrs M]

I received an email today confirming that I had been unsubscribed from 'Wixawin'. Still not happy with them I called Asda who are aware of this scam and say that Consumer Direct are dealing with the matter and suggested I give them a call. This I did and they took all the details and requested that I forwarded the scam email to the office of fair trading for them to investigate. I will let you know if I get anything back.

If anyone has had any experiences like this and wish to do something about it, Consumer Directs number is 08454040506