Tele2 connects paid subscriptions without my consent: what to do, how to get the money back?

All subscribers have encountered paid subscriptions from time to time. Sometimes they appear due to careless actions on different sites, and sometimes without your knowledge at all.

The main problem with such services is that they charge daily fees. Therefore, if you do not notice them in time and do not turn them off, the amount will accumulate significantly.

Let's talk about such subscriptions on the Tele2 SIM card.

Let's figure out how to remove paid subscriptions on Tele2, how to find out whether they appeared due to your fault, and how to return the money that was written off as payment.

How to disable paid subscriptions on Tele2

There are no special services on Tele2 that would prohibit paid subscriptions. Instead, the operator offers many ways to configure and disable services:

• Personal account on the operator’s website;
• Tele2 mobile application;
• USSD commands for specific services;
• Contact support.

Using these methods, you can independently enable or disable any options on your number.

Let's take a closer look at how they work.

Important!

Often, when you subscribe, you are sent a message: “To unsubscribe, send an SMS with the text STOP.” We do not recommend doing this - sending such a message also costs money, and often quite a lot.

How to punish a telecom operator for withdrawing funds for services connected without the subscriber’s consent

When considering this case, the court found that she had previously been prosecuted for the same offense. Moreover, the one-year period from the date of the decision has not yet passed. Thus, the case under consideration, at the request of the regulatory authority, has aggravating circumstances for the offender. Conclusion

Administrative responsibility of the mobile operator

Taking into account the circumstances, the court imposed an administrative fine on MegaFon in the amount of 35 thousand rubles.

The contract exists until one of the parties notifies the other in writing of its intention to terminate it.

Personal account on the site

In your Tele2 personal account, you can change your tariff plan, view your balance and expense details, and configure any options - paid and free.

Here's how to unsubscribe from paid subscriptions on Tele2:

1. Launch the operator’s website at tele2.ru.
2. Click on the “Login to Account” button and enter your details to log in to the system.
3. Wait until you are redirected to the main screen of your Personal Account.
4. Click on the “Manage services” button in the menu.
5. Find all unnecessary options and disable them.

Carefully study the list of connected paid services. There may be something else here that you weren't aware of, like a tone replacement or paid voicemail.

Act 2. It's your own fault.

I receive a response from Tele2. They made me feel guilty without understanding my situation. Just like in the situation with the goal of Alexey Nadezhin and MTS. The meaning of their answer is simple - you yourself subscribed to the newsletter:

Subscription data is connected when visiting sites and applications on the Internet, as a result of clicking on pop-up windows. This is a brilliant unsubscribe from Tele2. You need to seriously talk to your phone so that it does not go to sites while it is in a blocked state.

Operator application

In the “My Tele2” application, the same profile settings functions are available as in your personal account on the website.

Here’s how you can get rid of paid services:

1. Login to the application with your password.
2. Click on the “Services” button on the main screen.
3. Scroll through the list of paid services, find the one you need and pull the switch.

In addition, here you can get detailed information about the service. Click on it to see the exact cost, working conditions and USSD requests for management.

USSD commands

Each subscription or paid service has its own USSD request, which will allow you to quickly disable it.

You can find such information in the detailed description of the option. However, this is not very convenient - if you run a website or application, it is much easier to delete the subscription right there.

In addition to individual USSD requests, Tele2 also has universal options for disabling paid options:

• The command *189# will show you all the options that are connected to the current number. Enter it, and soon you will receive an SMS message with a list of paid services and commands to disable them.
• The *931# command will remove all paid web subscriptions from the current number automatically. The only drawback of the method is that useful options will also be disabled.

After you send the USSD command, wait a few minutes. You will soon receive a message that your subscription has been cancelled.

Mobile operators Tele2 - review

It was incredibly nice that I managed to defend my rights and get all the money back, but it would have been even nicer if this situation had not arisen at all.

Just below I attach a fragment of correspondence, which describes in detail how a subscriber can “connect” to paid Tele2 subscriptions:

Hi all! I want to share with you my indignation and tell you about how Tele2 brazenly “sucks” money from its subscribers.

As a result, the conversation ended in nothing, and I still sat and studied the details. The subscriptions were issued on weekdays between 8 and 9 o'clock, when the husband was driving and physically could not use the phone.

Support

If you are unable to disable a paid service on your own, ask Tele2 specialists for help. This can be done both online and offline/

Here are the ways you can contact support:

• Leave a request in the user’s personal account;
• Write to the online chat on the operator’s website at tele2.ru;
• Send a message to the number via WhatsApp and Viber instant messengers;
• Call the short number 611.

You can also always visit the operator’s communication salon. Take your passport with you.

Subscriptions without your participation

As is the case with other operators, paid subscriptions are sometimes added to Tele2 numbers without your consent. This can be done either by the company itself or by third-party services that obtained your number fraudulently.

Of course, no one will admit this to you directly. If you start complaining, the operator will most likely begin to convince you that you signed up for the service on your own.

How do you understand that a paid option has appeared on a number without your participation? Here are a few “symptoms”:

1. Subscriptions are massive - across the country or specifically in your region. For example, in the summer of 2021, the same paid services were massively connected in the Oryol region.
2. Are you sure you have not visited such a site? If the name, appearance of the resource and the information on it are not familiar to you, most likely, someone else subscribed instead of you.
3. The connection message came when you did not pick up the phone. A notification is sent immediately after you subscribe. If at the time you received the SMS you were not using your phone and did not enter your number on any sites, the subscription was definitely issued “on the side”.

Of course, the household factor cannot be ruled out either. Perhaps children or elderly relatives took your phone and accidentally activated the option.

Check with your loved ones for this information. Nobody touched anything? Then feel free to write a claim.

Act 1. While the smartphone was in his pocket, he subscribed to the newsletter.

Friends, I’ll tell you my story. Tele2 has always been about honesty, but on July 19 I came across an extremely interesting subscription. I'm at work, sitting and working. Phone in pocket. And then an SMS arrives:

I just subscribed to some site that I haven't even visited. According to the law on advertising, I had to clearly express my consent to the subscription, but here I was subscribed automatically and without my participation. It is clear that 30 rubles were written off automatically.

I don’t specifically disable the subscription, I didn’t connect it, even if they debited me 30 rubles a day, this is done without my participation. I am writing to Tele2 technical support.

The girl disconnects my subscription and informs me that within 7 days the money will be returned to me (at the post office they are already reporting that they will not return it, but will submit it for review...) . No registration number, no notification to my email, nothing. He only warns me not to surf on illegal sites. Hmm, it’s a very convenient position to say that it’s my own fault. But I still have a head on my shoulders, I understand perfectly well that I didn’t do anything at that moment and I don’t fall for this trick. I don't recommend it to you either.

Well, I think ok, I’ll write an email, as a loyal customer (2 SIM cards), my problem will be solved quickly. Yeah... now.

How to get your money back

To get your money back for a subscription you did not purchase, you will need to file a claim addressed to the operator. This can be done at the nearest Tele2 communication store.

Contact your consultant and ask him to give you a claim form. Fill it out as follows:

1. Write your name and address in the upper right corner. Also leave your contacts here: phone, e-mail. The full name of the head, company name and legal address are already entered into the form by default.
2. State the essence of the complaint. Provide the exact date and time of receipt of the SMS about subscription, and the address of the paid service.
3. Attach a printout of screenshots of the message, if necessary.
4. Put the date and signature with the transcript.

If the salon employees refuse to issue the form, ask for a complaint book. Indicate in it the time and date of the incident, record the names of the workers.

If this is also denied, you can submit a claim against the work of the salon and specific employees to Rospotrebnadzor, FAS or Roskomnadzor. This is a direct violation of your consumer rights.

An application to these authorities is written according to the same principle as a claim for Tele2.

Attention! Tele2 customers are being connected to paid services without their knowledge or consent!

The story happened to my husband, and I didn’t think to write about it here, because there was some possibility that he himself was to blame. But exactly the same thing happened to me, in all the smallest details. This means this is not an accident or carelessness. And the conclusion is simple - Tele2 either does not understand what is happening in their networks and how they work, or deliberately cooperates with scammers and lies to customers that they have nothing to do with it.

Below are a lot of interesting letters, this is correspondence with the customer service department, from which you can find out all the details of this story.

I'm very interested in whether there are other people with similar cases. Likewise, the victims, as well as those who are simply not indifferent, please support by reposting. I would be grateful for comments from legally savvy users.

To all the commentators who have not mastered many letters or who are wildly imaginative:

No children, pets, nosy neighbors, mediums, or inhabitants of parallel worlds do anything on our phones without our knowledge. No one in our family suffers from sleepwalking, amnesia, dementia, schizophrenia and other ailments that lead to unconscious actions; accidental or forgotten SMS sending is excluded. There is no mention of the order in the invoice details. Tele2 cannot provide any evidence of the execution of the order.

From: "Roman Demidov" To: Tele2 Klienditeenindus Cc: Subject: Web form 'Contact us' sent Web form "Contact us" Name Roman Demidov Contents of the letter

Hello. My number is 5———6. Today, February 28, 2021 at 9.40 I received the following SMS from number 1818:

“Oled liitunud klubiga MANGUD! Lga nadal 2 uhiuut ponevat Java mangu (3.20eur/ndl). Lopetamiseks? Saada stop MANGUD nr. 1818. Tugi:support.ee¡timwe.com"

This connection to the service occurred without my knowledge or consent. I am absolutely sure that I did not perform any actions that could lead to the activation of this service. I do not play games on my smartphone, I do not visit any questionable sites on my smartphone, I do not visit any sites that distribute paid content for mobile devices, I never enter or publish my phone number on any sites. Outsiders have no access to my smartphone. I don’t know how my number ended up being connected to this service. At 11.03 I called customer service number 6866866 to clarify the situation. The girl operator told me that she could not disable the service, she could not block such connections, and in my client agreement there was a clause according to which such connections were possible and legal, and she suggested that I re-read the contract. But she also could not answer my request to name the clause from the contract in question. In the evening at about 18.00 I personally came to the Tele2 representative office in Kristiine Keskus to ask the same questions. I was served by a girl with a sign “Õpilane” on her chest. She also could not explain to me how such a connection was possible, but suggested that someone used my smartphone for this or that I myself entered my phone number somewhere, which could lead to the activation of this service. Since this is impossible, I cannot consider this assumption satisfactory. In response to my request to accept an application to find out what happened with the help of the operator’s technical service, in order to find the reason for the connection in the logs of my actions, she refused, saying that this was impossible. She also could not answer my question about the cost of an SMS to number 1818, which must be sent to cancel the service, suggesting that the cost of such an SMS does not differ from the cost of a regular SMS. Since the cost of SMS to short numbers can be anything, I also cannot consider such an assumption convincing. As a result, I did not receive any information that would help me understand what was happening and who was to blame for this, and the employee suggested that I contact this organization myself and deal with it. I have an audio recording of this conversation. I believe that Tele2 does not ensure the safety of customers and provides an opportunity for the activities of companies operating under fraudulent schemes. A system in which a client is connected without his knowledge to paid services that he did not order and that he does not need, when it is impossible to refuse them for free, is a fraudulent way of imposing services. I consider the statements of Tele2 employees that the operator is not involved in the actions of such scammers and that he cannot influence their actions to be a lie. Access of third parties to the operator’s system to provide services through its mediation, without the knowledge and consent of the operator itself, is nonsense. You may not be unaware of the working methods of such third-party service providers, they do not hack your systems, you yourself provide them with access and technical capabilities to covertly connect to their services. In connection with the above, I inform you that I refuse to pay any amounts included in the invoices sent to me, which are accrued for any services provided by the supplier hiding behind the short number 1818. In addition, I sent an SMS to number 1818, refusing the connected service. If the cost of this SMS differs from the cost of a regular SMS, I will not pay for it either. I hope to resolve my problem through negotiations, without involving third parties. I consider a suitable compromise to be the cancellation of the invoices issued to me for “In this case, Tele2 is an intermediary (I ask you not to confuse this concept with a partner)” (c) - In my case, for me, as a Tele2 client, this does not matter.

“Tele2, as a mobile operator, simply gives its customers the opportunity to use additional If the client has ordered this service, Tele2 adds a fee to the bill based on the invoices provided by the supplier.” (c) - I, as a client, did not order this service in any way and did not use it, Tele2 has no reason to add to the bill a fee based on the invoices provided by the supplier Tim Vibra, and Tim Vibra has no reason to provide Tele2 with invoices for allegedly used me (c) - In my appeal, I indicated that I sent an SMS with a refusal of the service to the short number 1818. I received an SMS in response with a message about the disconnection of my number from their service. The problem is not the shutdown. The problem is Tele2’s inability to protect me as a client from legally correct scammers to whom Tele2 provides intermediary services to extort clients’ money. Since Tele2’s main activities are not related to charity, I can assume that Tele2 receives payment from Tim Vibra for its intermediary services, which means it participates in legally correct, but essentially fraudulent schemes for profiting from its clients and makes a profit from it. This situation makes me think about the possibility of repeating similar cases and changing the mobile service provider. In my many years of being a Tele2 customer, I have never had similar problems, but I know very well what a big problem for customers are similar methods of work of service providers and mobile operators in some other countries, I have encountered this myself, and I am very concerned that Tele2 is starting to use similar operating principles.

“To make a claim and dispute the invoice, I ask you to contact the supplier directly. After their written confirmation, we will be able to cancel the service fee and the amendments will be reflected in the next invoice.” (c) - Once again, I inform you that I will not pay any amounts included in the invoice for the services of the Tim Vibra provider, including SMS with a refusal of the service to the short number 1818, if its cost differs from the cost of a regular SMS.

“I advise you to send the claim provided to us to the supplier at the address” (c) - In connection with all of the above, deal with them yourself, this is not my problem and I did not create it. The problem arose due to the conditions and technical capabilities that Tele2, as an intermediary, provided to the service provider Tim Vibra.

In my initial appeal, I asked questions that I did not receive answers to, but I still hope to receive. 1. How is it possible for my number to be connected to third party services in an unauthorized manner without my knowledge? Is it technically possible to find out exactly whose actions and what actions led to such a connection? 2. How can I prevent a similar situation from happening again? Is it possible to block the connection of third-party services without my personal confirmation? 3. What specific clauses from the client agreement between me and Tele2 stipulate the possibility of such connection of services of third-party providers through the mediation of Tele2 without the knowledge and consent of the client? Please give clear and precise answers to these questions.

In further correspondence, I ask you to avoid standard forms of answers, and pay more attention to the essence of my complaints, in order to quickly resolve the situation and make the dialogue more constructive. Let's mutually appreciate the time and quality of argumentation for possible further consideration of the situation at the Department of Consumer Rights Protection. Thank you for your cooperation. Sincerely. Roman Demidov

***

March 6, 2021, 11:04 am Tele2 user klienditeenindus wrote:

Hello, Roman Demidov! The service was ordered from your phone number or on the Internet. This service is periodic.

The Tele2 mobile network is tested in accordance with international standards and piracy is excluded on our network. Tele2 Eesti AS has no way to find out whether someone could have used your mobile phone without your knowledge. If at the time of sending the SMS the phone was in the hands of a stranger, then according to the terms of use of Tele2 services, the owner of the device and number is responsible to Tele2 for their proper use. Also, the owner of the number is responsible for which numbers SMS are sent to.

I repeat that Tele2 adds a fee to the bill based on the invoices provided by the service provider. Tele2, as a mobile operator, simply gives its customers the opportunity to use additional services.

There is no reason to recalculate accounts. I ask you to contact the service provider using the specified contacts with all questions. Only if the supplier agrees to cancel the fee and sends us confirmation, the invoice for the service will be canceled. Best wishes, Alisa Kraft Tele2 Service Department Consultant

***

Subject: Re: Answer na Vashe pismo Hello, Alisa. Yesterday I received my invoice for February. Firstly, it lacks invoice details, which I ordered and was always present in letters with invoices. I believe it was not by chance that it disappeared from the last bill, but so that I could not raise reasoned objections based on the detailed list of services I used. I urgently demand that you send me details of the February invoice. Secondly, the invoice contains only one mention of “Tekstisõnum erihinnaga numbrile”, with the amount payable being 0.00. Apparently, this is an SMS with a refusal of the service, which I have repeatedly mentioned before. No other SMS messages to short numbers are mentioned in the invoice. Consequently, no SMS was sent to short numbers to connect any services from a SIM card with my number. The invoice contains the line “WAP sisuteenus 3.20.” I assume that this is an invoice for “WAP sisuteenus” in the amount of 3.20, in case of subsequent inclusions in the invoice of this line and/or accrual of penalties, I will contact the media and the consumer protection department. The problem is not the amount, this is my principled position, due to the lack of a clear explanation of the situation that has arisen and guarantees against the repetition of such cases.

Once again I ask you in subsequent letters to refrain from formal replies and explanations that are not relevant, and to pay attention to the essence of what I wrote. This way we will quickly reach mutual understanding, if possible. All the best. Sincerely. Roman Demidov.

***

March 24, 2021, 7:52 am Tele2 user klienditeenindus wrote:

Hello, Roman Demidov! Tim Vibra is a different organization. Tele2 cannot penetrate their programs and see how and what was ordered from your phone number. This is the same if you used the parking service by phone and then demanded that it be cancelled. The owners of the parking lot are other companies, they are also responsible for the order and quality of service. Tele2 only bills the client for content services, since the services are provided via a mobile phone.

In this case everything is the same. You need to contact your service provider. If it is a virus, then they will compensate for the service and notify Tele2 about it. If you entered a PIN code when ordering the service, there will be no recalculation.

Information about additional services is available from all operators and also on the website of the Consumer Protection Board: tele2.ee/klienditeenindus/sisuteenused.html telia.ee/…/muud-teenused/perioodiline-sisuteenus elisa.ee/…/Eritariifsed-teenus…/ SMS-teenused/248 tarbijakaitseamet.ee/…/periodicheskie-kontent-us…

According to the terms of use of Tele2 services (clause 4.2), the owner of the device and number is responsible to Tele2 for their proper use. The owner of the number is also responsible for which numbers are called and what services are used.

According to clause 2.2 of the general conditions for using Tele2 services, when concluding or amending an agreement, a person wishing to use the services must: 2.2.3. familiarize yourself with the conditions, price list, instructions for using services and equipment, as well as other documents related to the provision of communication services. According to clause 2.3.1., the client has read, understood and agrees to the terms and conditions of Tele2, incl. with (additional) conditions and campaign conditions, with a price list, as well as with instructions for using services and equipment.

At the moment there are no grounds for recalculation. If payment is not made, a penalty is added to the account, and the debt is transferred to the collection company.

Attached to this letter is a printout of the calls. If you would like to see a printout for the last 12 months, then I advise you to visit our self-service at minu.tele2.ee/, where the latest call printouts are always available to the contract owner and the user with unlimited use. Best wishes, Lika Sanne Tele2 Service Department Consultant

***

————— Original message ————— From: Roman Demidov <——— [email protected] > To: Tele2 Klienditeenindus Cc: Subject: Re: Answer na Vashe pismo

Hello, Lika Sanne. First of all, I want to bring to your attention that yesterday, March 25, my wife’s number 58194741 (Natalia Demidova ik4———-8) from number 1818 received exactly the same message as I received about connecting to a periodic service with a weekly payment. The situation is absolutely similar to mine - she also did not send any SMS to short numbers, did not enter her number on any sites providing similar services, did not receive any codes to confirm this connection, that is, she did not perform any actions that could lead to ordering the Tim service Vibra. This only confirms the validity of my claims and makes me think that the situation is not isolated and not accidental, and Tele2 either does not know and does not understand what is happening in their networks and is unable to ensure the financial security of its clients, or is acting in a deliberate conspiracy with the unscrupulous company Tim Vibra. My wife, through the contact form on the Tele2 website, will write her appeal with similar claims and leave a statement with a request to forward all proceedings in her case to me. In this regard, I ask you to consider that all my previous and future appeals, and all the arguments set out in them, equally relate to two similar cases, mine and my wife, if her invoice for March contains a line with the amount payable for Tim’s services Vibra.

Now to your answer.

“Tim Vibra is a different organization. Tele2 cannot penetrate their programs and see how and what was ordered from your phone number.” (c) Tele2, as an intermediary providing Tim Vibra with access to its networks, can independently contact Tim Vibra and solve problems with vulnerabilities in its networks, send requests, notify about conflict situations, and not pass on to its clients the problems that they created not involved in any way. The invoices are issued to me by Tele2, I must pay to Tele2 bank accounts, I entered into an agreement for the provision of services with Tele2, and I do not understand why I should dispute the invoices issued by Tele2 with some third parties from whom I did not order any services and in general I didn’t have any contact with them.

“This is the same if you used the parking service by phone and then demanded that it be cancelled. The owners of the parking lot are other companies, they are also responsible for the order and quality of service.” (c) Payment for parking is carried out either by sending an SMS or through an application that must be installed on a smartphone, select a payment method in it and enter the car number into it. That is, to carry out conscious actions with the device that leave digital (technical) traces in the databases (logs) of providers and mobile service providers. In my case there was nothing like this; the example with parking is incorrect.

“In this case, everything is the same. You need to contact your service provider. If it is a virus, then they will compensate for the service and notify Tele2 about it. If you entered a PIN code when ordering a service, then there will be no recalculation” (c) As I said above, the example is incorrect. Technical problems (viruses, vulnerabilities) in Tele2 networks and corrections of their consequences should be resolved by Tele2, and not their clients. I did not enter any PIN codes anywhere, as I have repeatedly stated before, and continue to say.

“All operators have information about additional services and also on the page of the Department of Consumer Rights Protection:” (c) Let’s read.

Quote from the website tele2.ee/…/teenused/mee…/perioodilised-sisuteenused/: tele2.ee/…/…/meelelahutus/perioodilised-sisuteenused “1818. Connection: to connect to the service, the user indicates his mobile phone number on the campaign website, after which he is sent a password. After confirming the password, you are connected to the service. Services can be found on the website https://ee.natta.com/.” I did not go to the company’s website, did not indicate my number there, did not receive any passwords or confirm them. The conditions and method of my connection to the service do not correspond to what is written on your page. The link to the Tele2 page describing the conditions for connecting to periodic content services is incorrect; it does not describe my case.

Quote from the website tarbijakaitseamet.ee/…/periodicheskie-kontent-us… “If it is possible to establish the conclusion of an agreement from the call printout, then you do not have the right to refuse to pay the presented invoice. But this is the case if, when completing the order, the terms of service and registration information were presented in a place visible to the consumer.” It follows that if the conclusion of an agreement cannot be established from the printout of calls, then I have the right to refuse to pay the presented invoice, since there is NO information in the printout of my calls and SMS that could confirm that I ordered this service. Show me evidence that I connected to this service, and all my claims will be dropped. In addition, from everything I have stated previously, it clearly follows that when completing the order, the terms of service and registration information were not presented in a place visible to the consumer. Your link to the site tarbijakaitseamet.ee/…/periodicheskie-kontent-us… confirms the validity of my claims.

“According to the terms of use of Tele2 services (clause 4.2), the owner of the device and number is responsible to Tele2 for their proper use. Also, the owner of the number is responsible for which numbers are called and which ones. According to clause 2.2 of the general terms and conditions for using Tele2 services, when concluding or amending an agreement, a person wishing to use the services must: 2.2.3. familiarize yourself with the conditions, price list, instructions for using services and equipment, as well as other documents related to the provision of communication services.” (c) From the situation I have described repeatedly and in every detail, it is clearly clear that I did not even have the theoretical opportunity to familiarize myself with the conditions, price list, instructions for using services and equipment, as well as other documents related to the provision of communication services. The connection occurred without my knowledge, in a way unknown to me, unexpectedly, and without any action on my part. Reference to clause 2.2.3. General terms of use of Tele2 services is incorrect, it does not describe my case.

“According to clause 2.3.1., the client has read, understood and agrees to the terms of Tele2, incl. with (additional) conditions and campaign conditions, with a price list, as well as with instructions for using services and equipment.” (c) The client has read, understood and agreed. Show the client the correct point, which relates to the situation described by the client, and not some theoretical circumstances and conditions that Tele2 service department consultants constantly refer to and which do not coincide with the actual situation.

“At the moment there are no grounds for recalculation. In case of non-compliance with payment, a penalty is added to the account, and the debt is transferred to collection. The client has the right to leave unpaid the part of the invoice that the client disputed before the payment deadline until the complaint is considered.”

You cannot charge penalties and transfer the debt to a collection company, or in any way limit my use of Tele2 services. The complaint was not considered, part of the invoice was disputed before the payment was due. Roman Demidov.

Tele2 klienditeenindus 13:32 (7 hours ago) to: me Hello, Roman Demidov! I repeat that we have no basis for recalculation. I advise you to send the complaint submitted to us to the supplier at [email protected] This is the final answer. Best wishes, Alisa Kraft Tele2 Service Department Consultant

Natalia D.

Updated article on Delfi:

Tele2 clients Natalia and Roman Demidov contacted the editorial office of the Russian Delfi. They claim that they were connected without their knowledge or consent to a paid service - a mobile games club - costing 3.20 euros per week.

It turned out that spouses are far from the only “victims”: dozens of people describe similar situations on social networks.

They connected me without me

Tallinn resident Roman Demidov claims that on February 28, 2021 at 9:40 am he received an SMS message from number 1818 with the following content: “Oled liitunud klubiga MANGUD! Iga nadal 2 uhiuut ponevat Java mangu (3.20eur/ndl). Lopetamiseks saada stop MANGUD nr. 1818. Tugi: [email protected] "("You have joined the "Games" club. Every week - 2 new interesting Java games (3.20 euros/week). To refuse, send stop MANGUD to number 1818. Support: [ email protected] ” - editor's note).

“This connection to the service occurred without my knowledge or consent. I am absolutely sure that I did not perform any actions that could lead to the activation of this service. I do not play games on my smartphone, I do not visit any questionable sites on my smartphone, I do not visit any sites that distribute paid content for mobile devices, I never enter or publish my phone number on any sites. Access of strangers to my smartphone is excluded,” Roman is sure. He does not know how his number ended up being connected to this service.

Further, according to the client, on March 11, he called the Tele2 customer service number to clarify the situation. “The girl operator told me that she could not disable the service, nor could she block such connections, and in my client agreement there was a clause according to which such connections were possible and legal, and she suggested that I re-read the agreement. She also could not answer my request to name the clause from the contract in question,” Roman recalls this conversation. Further, according to him, in the evening of the same day he personally went to the operator’s representative office, but even then he did not receive an answer to his questions.

Roman believes that Tele2 does not ensure the safety of customers and provides an opportunity for the activities of companies operating under fraudulent schemes. “A system in which a client is connected without his knowledge to paid services that he did not order and that he does not need, when it is impossible to refuse them for free, is a fraudulent way of imposing services,” the client believes.

Also, according to him, statements by Tele2 employees that the operator is not involved in the actions of such scammers and that it cannot influence their actions are a lie: “Access of third parties to the operator’s system for the provision of services through its mediation, without the knowledge and consent of the operator operator is nonsense. Tele2 cannot be unaware of the operating methods of such third-party service providers, they do not hack systems, the operator itself provides them with access and the technical capabilities to covertly connect to their services.”

Initially, this story happened to Roman. According to his wife Natalia, she did not even think about writing about it: there was some possibility that her husband himself was to blame. But then on March 25, the same thing happened to her - in all the smallest details. “And that means this is not an accident or carelessness. And the conclusion is simple: Tele2 either does not understand what is happening in their networks and how they work, or they deliberately cooperate with scammers and lie to customers that they have nothing to do with it,” says the client.

While writing the material, it became clear that the story is not new: the first mention of it on one of the Estonian forums dates back to 2006.

Elusive supplier

Roman sent a letter with a detailed explanation of the situation and a request to clarify it to the technical support of the mobile operator. He also refused to pay for any services provided by the supplier hiding behind the short number 1818. A long correspondence ensued. Tele2 refused to cancel the service, since “in this case, Tele2 is an intermediary. The service is offered by Tim Vibra, they are also responsible for the quality.” Roman was advised to file a claim with the supplier.

This response from the client was not satisfactory: “I have not entered into any agreements or contracts with the Tim Vibra service provider, have not ordered or used their services, have not had any contact with them, and I have no reason to contact them to dispute any invoices , because Tim Vibra has no reason to issue these bills. I have no complaints about them. I have complaints about Tele2. Tele2 connected me to Tim Vibra services without my knowledge or consent. Therefore, I will contact Tele2, and not Tim Vibra.”

The operator’s representative, during correspondence with the client, stated that the service was nevertheless ordered from the client’s phone number or on the Internet. Roman does not agree: “From your answers, I come to the conclusion that they take me for a weak-minded person.” As a result, no consensus was reached. The operator claimed that they had no basis for recalculation and advised sending this claim to the supplier. “In case of non-compliance with payment, a penalty is added to the account, and the debt is transferred to the collection company.”

It turned out that other clients of both Tele2 and other Estonian telecom operators also used the “sudden” services. In one of the thematic groups on Facebook, many dissatisfied people share their stories, look for solutions to the problem and are simply indignant. “From the comments to the publication it is clear that the problem is widespread, but few are willing to resist such an attitude from customer support. Mostly they prefer to pay silently so as not to complicate their lives,” says Roman.

Tele2: it was a virus

According to Liina Liiv, head of public relations at Tele2 Eesti, cases of unauthorized connection to this service have recently been associated with malicious software. “Tim Vibra is a periodic content service provided by Timwe grupp, which allows you to order various images, games, melodies, horoscopes, etc. According to the supplier, during the period 02/24/03/29/2017, illegal intermediation of this service occurred on the Internet. Connection to the service occurred as follows: the consumer used the Internet via a mobile phone, an advertising banner opened on certain pages, informing that the consumer’s phone was infected with a virus, and offering to download an anti-virus program. Then a message was sent to the consumer’s number stating that the user had joined a paid service,” Liiv describes the connection scheme.

“At the request of the service provider, the banner was removed from the network at the end of March. This was not about the service offered through Tim Vibra, but about malicious software that distributed and activated their service. We advise people not to click on suspicious links under any circumstances. For Tele2 customers who contacted us with this problem, we waived the service fee,” she says.

Elisa: we have not received any complaints about Tim Vibra

Despite the fact that, according to numerous comments on social networks, not only Tele2 clients became “victims” of a service that they did not order, according to the head of Elisa’s public relations service, Marika Rajski, they did not receive any complaints about this. “To date, Elisa clients have not contacted us with questions or complaints about Tim Vibra’s services,” she assures.

Telia: we have already stopped cooperation with this merchant

Telia's head of public relations, Raigo Neudorf, notes that at the moment their company has ceased all cooperation with the supplier offering the Tim Vibra service. ”As of August 2021, Telia has ceased cooperation with the merchant offering the so-called. Tim Vibra service and never activated it again,” he reports. “Therefore, Telia’s network cannot currently provide this provider’s service.”

Neudorf notes that providers of this type of service are not associated with the operator and that the latter in this case is simply an intermediary. ”In the case of such services, we are talking about a periodic content service that is offered during a certain period (for example, once a week) and which has a fixed weekly or monthly fee. Customers who join the service are offered various mobile content (ringtones, images, horoscopes, etc.). As a rule, this type of service is provided by providers independent of the mobile operator, and the operator is only an intermediary and payer,” explains a Telia representative.

The supplier is unavailable - an intermediary will help

Communications expert at the Consumer Protection Board, Pille Kalda, confirms that this problem exists and that they have received appropriate signals.

“The Department of Consumer Rights Protection has received complaints from consumers who, in recent months, have had problems with the content service offered through the short code 1818, which consumers, according to them, did not order or join. Through the short number 1818, the content service is provided by Total Tim, Sociedade de Telecomunicoes Moveis e Afins, registered in Portugal,” says Calda.

According to her, we are talking about a virus and the operator is also aware of what is happening. “Tele2 informed the department that during the period from February 24 to March 29, 2017, illegal intermediation of the Total Tim service occurred. It was not about the Total Tim content service itself, but about malicious software that distributed and activated their service,” explains a representative of the department.

Kalda says that usually in order to cancel a fee for an unauthorized service, you need to file a claim directly with the supplier, but taking into account that in this case the supplier, according to the “victims”, does not respond to complaints, you can turn to an intermediary , that is, the mobile operator.

“To join the content service provided through the short number 1818, the consumer must enter his phone number on the web page, to which the service provider sends the consumer an SMS message with a password, which he, in turn, must enter on the site for confirmation. If the consumer has not connected to the service in this way, he should dispute the bill by means of a written complaint to the telecom operator. In normal situations, in order to dispute a charge, you should contact the service provider, but in this case, taking into account the essence of the problem, you can also contact the company providing telecom services,” says Kalda.

“Please note that, according to the Law of Obligations Act, if an enterprise sent a consumer a product that he did not order, or provided him with a service that he did not order, or performed any other similar action, then it has no right present demands to the consumer. The consumer's silence or inaction cannot be regarded as his consent. If the consumer has contacted the telecom operator, but the latter has not satisfied his request, please contact us either by email [email protected] or through the self-service system takis.tarbijakaitseamet.ee/avalik/poordumised,” advises Kalda.

The “hero of the occasion” remains silent

Delfi has twice contacted supplier Tim Vibra for comment. As of Wednesday afternoon, there had been no response. Many “victims” also noted that the supplier company did not respond to their requests and messages. But it is precisely these contacts that customers are encouraged to contact if they have questions or problems related to this content service.

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