Text Message Fraud: Part 2 of 2
February 20, 2008 | 6 Comments
Since we posted about mystery charges from SJA Mobile a few things have happened that confirm our suspicions and also suggest that SJA has taken notice.
We are not the only ones. Comments on our blog and posts on HowardForums reveal that lots of people have been on the wrong end of charges from SJA Mobile, most of them Sprint customers.
SJA excels at their core business of providing refunds. Our refund check arrived, including a $5.00 bonus. But even the check reminds us that “This refund is out of goodwill and not statutory duty”.
SJA have launched a curious publicity campaign. When we wrote about them on Feb 5, a Google search for “SJA Mobile” turned up little apart from their own website. A few days later Skydeck’s blog was the #2 result for that search. Recently though, all sorts of blogs have started gushing about the benefits and value of SJA Mobile. We’re not going to link to those blogs because that would raise their Google rank, but we couldn’t resist a few quotes:
“I always hear my mother saying ‘what will they think of next?’ and I often wonder that myself. Well sja mobile has the answer!” Rat Brain
“I like their commitment to customer satisfaction. A lot of companies in today’s world will say that, but … they cower under legalese or bolt with your money and no excuses or apologies. That’s not the way SJA Mobile does business. They offer a ‘no questions asked’ refund … You can text them, call a toll free number or get help from them online using their email support. How cool is that?” Selena Jackson (Skydeck note: We agree, they are awesome at refunds. But what do they actually do?)
“You subscribe to a service like SJA Mobile and VOILA! you receive the messages.” The Hot Dog Truck (Skydeck note: VOILA! they take your money)
The following quotes imply that SJA sells text messaging as a service. In other words, you can’t send or receive text messages without paying SJA for the privilege, or SJA offers a discount on text. This is nonsense.
“When it comes to text messaging, sja mobile is the dynamic and interactive provider … You can subscribe today and you will get what you want and make your phone utilizes its capability in the world of text messaging.” French Vision
“There are other options you can choose for SMS service if you think your mobile subscriber is charging you too much for a plain text sms. The site called sja mobile offer a cheap SMS subscription option for all cell phone users.” Technology Metro
“Have you guys thought of having a txt subscription on your mobile phone? … You can choose from $4.99 or $9.99 txt alert subscription program that will be billed directly to your wireless bill. This place is kind of nice though because if you are not happy with the service they will refund your money without any questions and hesitations. ” Dauphine’s Travel Blog
So why the sudden outpouring of bloggerly love? Once again we have Google to thank for the explanation:
If you haven’t heard of PayPerPost before, try Googling them. Let’s just say that they are a natural partner for SJA.
Posted by: Dan
Categories: Mobile Market, Featured, Advice
6 Responses to “Text Message Fraud: Part 2 of 2”
Vero Pepperrell on February 25th, 2008 4:12 am
Oh bloody hell! That’s just disgraceful!
I’m not only including this on the next Carnival of the Mobilists but I’ll blog about it on my personal blog as well. I wonder what percentage of people request a refund vs how many get downright ripped off by it never noticing!
*pulls hair out* What IS the world coming to!?!
Taptology - Taptu Mobile Search Engine » Blog Archive » Carnival of the Mobilists #112: With our sights set firmly on the future on February 25th, 2008 7:41 am
[…] Dan at SkyDeck sounds the alarm on a seriously dodgy company called SJA Mobile (Part 1 & Part 2), who presents itself as a mobile billing service but strikes me as being nothing more than a […]
Iain Brown on April 21st, 2008 11:36 am
This puzzles the heck out of me.
I discovered a $9.99 charge on my February AT&T account for my 11-year-old son’s phone. He has no clue how he subscribed to anything, and certainly no recollection of doing so. (He’s a smart kid. He downloaded two games - with Mom’s permission - and knew exactly what he was doing.)
I called AT&T. All they can tell me is that he subscribed on 2/29. They wouldn’t give me more info about SJA mobile, but did tell me that I’d find it through Google, which I did, and which led me here.
As much as I search the web and SJA’s limited website I can find *nothing* to say what they do. Yet there are what seem to be legitimate blog posts saying that it’s a useful service - yet they *also* don’t say what it is. Are these people being paid by SJA (whatever they are)? There are no apparent referral fees involved, since a) there are no referral codes in the links and b) there’s nothing to sign up for at the SJA web site (so HTTP_REFERER wouldn’t be of much use.)
Some of the blogs are clearly not protected from spam - are the SJA ads just a more sophisticated form of spam?
This blog entry, and the ones that reference it, are the only source of real information I’ve seen about SJA, and that information seems to be that the entire operation is a scam. Nothing I’ve seen on the other side would lead me to question that conclusion.
So I’m flummoxed:
- What do they do?
- How does a scamming non-service get hooked up with the big wireless providers?
- How did they con an 11-year-old into signing up?
(I’ll be enabling “parental controls” on his phone this evening…)
Iain Brown on April 21st, 2008 5:32 pm
Well… damn. I’ve learned more, and it’s not exactly the scam I expected. So when I texted STOP from my kid’s phone to the published number I got a reply from “ultimate-game-cheats.net”.
Turns out he did subscribe to a “service” after all. http://www.ultimate-game-cheats.net/ - “Enter your cell phone number to get the site password.” In the fine print it does say it will cost $9.99/month and you must be 14 or older.
Skydeck : Text Message Fraud on April 22nd, 2008 10:55 am
[…] What happened next … SJA Mobile Part 2. […]
For want of a better title… » Blog Archive » Conning Kids on April 23rd, 2008 12:04 pm
[…] only site I found that gave me anything of interest was Skydeck’s blog, here and here. The text and comments make it pretty clear that SJA Mobile is or is involved in scamming. SJA […]