I don’t often look at my bank statement but every now and then, I cast a cursory glance without much thought. Earlier this week though, I noticed something not right. My monthly mobile payment had jumped by about a third for a couple of months and there was no plausible explanation for that. Neither did I jet anywhere fancy where I could get roaming charges nor did I use extra data given that all the lines I use with my mobile provider (Three UK) have unlimited data allowance.
Three, like all mainstream UK mobile phone providers, gives you access to a detailed billing online and mine revealed that I have been charged every week since October 16th, a small amount; £4.50 (or £18 every four weeks). By the time I found out, I had been charged £40.50.
The third party on behalf of which Three was charging me is a French company called Digital Global Pass (DGP) which operates a network of services across five verticals (sports, dating, music, gaming and video on demand). The service I had apparently used was Fuzeforge games, one of its properties. It positions itself as a provider of unlimited access to mobile and PC games via its Fuze Forge Pass service, available, you guessed it, via a subscription that automatically renews every week.
Mind the bill
Here’s the kicker though; the web is rife with reports of parents facing eye-watering bills after their children raked up expenses in the thousands of pounds via in-app purchases that invariably involve Google Play, Apple iOS, password sharing and credit cards.
In my case however, things were different, very different. For a start, it was my mobile broadband account that was charged, not an actual usable mobile phone number. That number is tied to a router tucked away in the corner of a room.
How then could I have been charged? I was not alone asking that very question. Three’s community forum has a page titled “Scammed by Fuzeforge on my 3 broadband bill”, which could have been written by me since it contains the same recurrent theme; an unexpected Fuzeforge subscription to Three’s mobile broadband service.
But it’s not just Three. Vodafone mobile broadband users shared their frustrations at discovering that they were charged £4.50 per week for a service they say they didn’t subscribe to.
I initially contacted Three’s support as they are my service provider. “These companies are also regulated by the Phone-paid service authority (or PSA), so you can reach out to them here for further assistance”, the customer support agent told me on X (formerly Twitter).
The PSA is currently the UK regulator for content, goods and services charged to a phone bill but it is not, as it puts it, “an ombudsman or arbitrator”. As such it doesn’t handle individual cases although it has taken entities to court after an investigation. Note that from the 1st of February, it will no longer exist as its role will be taken over by OFCOM.
Fuzeforge, part of DGP
I searched for Fuzeforge’s details and called them. To DGP’s credit, they called me twice (in both cases, I couldn’t reply and didn’t call back as both these numbers were registered in Croatia). They were prompt to answer my emails and provided me with more details as to what had happened.
It turned out that the service was activated from my older child’s smartphone which had a separate number at the time of the interaction on that device. The interaction happened on Snapchat and could have been a click on a banner, something that the free parental control app I used, didn’t detect. Three captured and consequently billed the mobile broadband number and it could not give me a clear reason as to why that happened.
There’s a problem though. DGP told me that a valid mobile number has to be entered and has to be active to receive a 4-digit activation PIN code. The holder of the device has to enter the PIN code on the service confirmation page to start the service (To use Three Pay (a payment platform and the verification process for individual services is managed directly by vendors), customers should receive a text with a verification PIN). What process did Three follow to put the charge through to the mobile broadband line rather than my kid’s mobile? That remains a mystery.
To be continued
I reached out to Three to get their comments. A spokesperson for the company told me, “Three are also looking into your account details and we will be able to provide some more details once they have been able to get the full details.”
What should you do then? Put a block on premium numbers. My dashboard didn’t offer that option, strangely enough, and I had to reach out to Three’s chat service to get that done. Three also suggested that I turn off roaming as well, after which, the agent confirmed that I won’t be able to use premium services for that number. I will still keep an eye on my mobile broadband bills from now on.
Mobile broadband is becoming more and more popular because 5G availability is getting better, not everyone has access to fiber broadband and it is generally cheaper. Mobile broadband is also easier to install as you only need to connect the router to mains (or even to a battery if you use a mobile hotspot) and you’re ready to go. No need to wait for an engineer to install.
This made them more popular with SMBs that require connectivity but without the hassle. The fact that one could seemingly buy premium subscription and get it billed to the owner of the mobile broadband line means that, across the UK, thousands of SMBs could potentially be at risk of incurring bills in the hundreds of pounds.
The saga isn’t over yet and I will update this article in the new year when Three gets back to. Until then, Happy Holidays.
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desire.athow@futurenet.com (Desire Athow)
