How to get rid of extra paid subscriptions - tips for subscribers of Megafon, MTS, Beeline and Tele2. Insidious subscriptions: how to disable? How to disable unlimited calls on motive

Every day tens of thousands of subscribers mobile networks become participants in all sorts of paid subscriptions, competitions and promotions from content providers and aggregators. Some careless citizens don’t even know why money is disappearing from their account. People replenish their balance, but the account is again negative. What to do? How to stop this scam? The correspondent of our project was looking for answers to these questions.

In November, our editorial office began to receive messages with enviable frequency about the alleged theft of money by operators cellular communications. Upon detailed study of the issue, it turned out that in all these cases people consciously, but in most cases unknowingly became participants in all kinds of subscriptions from content providers on short numbers. Moreover, the cost of these subscriptions ranged from 150 rubles per month to 250 rubles per day. People would be happy to unsubscribe from all these subscriptions, but they didn’t know how to do it. Calling various hotlines or sending additional SMS resulted in even greater expenses. Users were desperate.

Our project volunteered to help everyone who applied. In parallel with this, we organized our own investigation and found out how people become members of subscriptions without realizing it, and what needs to be done to unsubscribe from subscriptions and get their money back.

This year there is much less fraud from short numbers, notes commercial director of TG MOTIV Ekaterina Khvorostova.- If in 2010 the total number of requests and claims for SMS fraud was about 5%, then this year it is only 0.5%. But still, the Company’s specialists constantly monitor the services provided by content providers and process subscriber complaints. Men in Lately have become more attentive and responsible - they inform us about fraudulent services and spam mailings.

Similar dynamics are observed at Tele2. Representatives of the operator believe that this was “a consequence of taking various measures to prevent fraudulent activities. But scammers also do not sleep and come up with more and more sophisticated ways to deceive gullible subscribers. The main thing subscribers should remember in order not to fall for scammers is to be vigilant.”

However, in the period from December to February there is a seasonal surge in requests from subscribers dissatisfied with strange debits from their accounts. In most cases, they do not understand how the subscription and short code scheme works.

The scheme for providing services using short numbers is briefly as follows: an aggregator (large content provider) rents short numbers from cellular operators. Also, aggregators have partnership programs, through which they can provide their rented numbers for use by smaller content providers and partners. The partner or the content provider itself directly creates and provides the service via a short number. Content providers and cellular operators receive a certain percentage for intermediation of the service provided, the rest goes to the partner.

There are three main participants in this whole scheme:

• An aggregator is a large content provider that rents short numbers from cellular operators.
• Content provider is an organization that rents short numbers from cellular operators or an aggregator and provides services on short numbers and/or rents short numbers to partners for a percentage of the services.
• Partner - organization or individual which takes short number for rent and provides services through it for cellular subscribers through the above intermediaries.

The services provided by short codes by partners are practically not controlled by content providers. As a result, a convenient cover is created for various fraudulent schemes. In theory, this is beneficial to both operators and content providers. In practice, both are subject to popular anger and enormous negativity (and I must say, it is fair). Operators, having assessed all the pros and cons, decided to stop making money from fraudulent schemes and began to stop attempts at schemes to take money from subscribers. In this regard, services have begun to appear that help protect users from paid content. Some of them restrict access to services on short numbers, and some disable them completely.

We present to you a table describing services that disable the ability to use the services of content providers using short numbers.

We recommend using the "My Subscriptions" service to manage content services, which allows you to view the list of current subscriptions on a number, select new services, connect and disconnect services. To do this, just dial the combination *111*919# on your phone and then select the desired menu items,” says Daria Volkhina, press secretary of MTS-Ural.- On the MTS website in the “Entertainment and Information” - “Short Number Services” section, you can find out which content provider provides the service for a specific number and contact its services technical support. In addition, you can contact the MTS Contact Center, its specialists will help you disable the service.

MTS provides a “Content Ban” service, which, when activated, blocks access to the use of SMS and voice content. The service is free and available on all tariffs. You can connect it by calling the MTS Contact Center.

MOTIV does not have subscriptions to content services. If the subscriber wants to protect himself from accidental activation of any unwanted application (demo version) or simply does not want to use short numbers, then he can enable the “Ban” service. sending SMS to the numbers of content providers." Switching on - 12 rubles, subscription fee- 70 kopecks per day. This service is provided free of charge on the Boltastics children’s tariff in order to protect young users from the “adult” Internet and content - emphasized in MOTIVE.

- To check and disable subscriptions, the subscriber can contact the subscriber service at 0500 around the clock, use the “SMS consultant” service - by sending your question in the form SMS messages to number 000500 or ask a question through the “online consultant”. The subscriber can also disable subscriptions independently on the MegaFon PRO portal and by sending an SMS with the STOP command to service number 5051,” says Evgeniy Varyvdin, head of the income guarantee and fraud management service of the Ural branch of MegaFon.

Rostelecom subscribers have the “Content-info” service, with which you can find out the cost of a picture, melody or application. It is enough to send an SMS (send an SMS message with the content number to the short number 142) or a USSD request (dial *142*[content number]# and press the call key) with the content number and receive a description and cost in response. The service is free, SMS message to short number 142 when the subscriber is in home network not charged.

For specific service parameters, you can consult the support service of your telecom operator.

You can get a refund for services already provided using short numbers. A lot depends on the situation you find yourself in. If you yourself consciously used the services by sending an SMS, subscribing or calling paid number and while there is practically no way to prove fraud, it is extremely difficult to get the money back. If SMS were sent without your knowledge ( malware on the phone), minor children, and most importantly, if you have suffered from a clear fraud, and you can prove it, then getting your money back is quite possible.

First you need to clearly understand how and under what circumstances the money was withdrawn. You need to find out the time of withdrawal, the short number, where the money went, how much money was withdrawn. All this can be found out from the account details or from a call to help desk your telecom operator. If you learned about the service from the Internet, then you need to find this site and very carefully read the rules for the provision of services on it.

Next, call your operator and clearly state all the details, provide evidence that you were deceived. If there is no effect, the same can be done with the content provider. During the conversation, we recommend referring to your determination to contact the prosecutor’s office, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the court and other authorities, and citing articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. For example, article 159 (“Fraud”) or article 34 (“Liability of accomplices in a crime”). This should only be done if you are sure that you have been deceived. It's unlikely that the money will be returned just like that.

It should be noted that it is advisable to speak clearly, calmly and extremely persistently. This will increase the likelihood of a refund.

You can also submit a request on the website of the content provider servicing a particular number. If all else fails, all that remains is to continue to hammer the operator and content provider using the above methods and, at the same time, begin real appeals to various authorities.

Since May 2014, amendments to the Law “On Communications” came into force in Russia, in accordance with which, when providing content services, cellular operators are required to first inform the subscriber about their cost and obtain explicit consent to provide services. In addition, the subscriber was able to create a separate account to pay for content services. In this case, money can be written off only from this “additional account”. The main account will remain untouchable. If on an “additional account” zero balance, the content service simply will not be provided.

Alternatively, you can write email to our editorial office at [email protected] or, write to

At the end of November 2016, Russian subscribers of the largest mobile operators again began to complain about paid services and subscriptions that are connected by mistake, but cost the user a few extra rubles a day. The site's editors have figured out how to disable unnecessary services and prevent their reconnection.

Russian subscribers of mobile operators regularly pay attention to subscriptions and paid services that appear, for example, after visiting certain sites that offer such services.

In November 2016, Director of Strategic Communications of Mail.Ru Group Georgy Lobushkin told on his Facebook page that he discovered that his grandmother, who uses Beeline services, had extra subscriptions that cost her 6 rubles a day or 180 rubles a month. In the support chat, he was told that such services can be activated “by clicking on the Internet.”

A few days later, Ivan Kalyuzhny, head of social media at Alfa-Bank, shared a similar story - he discovered his mother, an MTS subscriber, has several subscriptions totaling 27 rubles per day or more than 800 rubles per month.

In 2015, the founder of Liveinternet, German Klimenko, who now holds the post of presidential adviser on the Internet, reported a similar situation. He explained that he used the services of Megafon and complained about one of the news sites that redirects users to a page with a video. To view it, the subscriber unknowingly connects himself to a subscription - the terms of use are indicated in an unreadable font in the corner of the screen.

After the publication on the site, representatives of the operator reported that they had recorded “the fact of unfairly attracting subscribers to subscriptions,” fined the content partner who is involved in connecting such subscriptions, and also returned money to all subscribers and disabled existing subscriptions.

The editors of the site publish instructions for subscribers of the four largest Russian operators on how to identify and disable unnecessary subscriptions and prevent their occurrence in the future.

"Megaphone"

How to detect and disable connected subscriptions

After activating a paid subscription or service, the subscriber receives an SMS with information, which also contains a command to help cancel the service.

To view connected paid services and subscriptions, you must log into your personal account on the website.

Besides, Personal Area also available in the mobile application.

If a user discovers that he accidentally subscribed to a service, he should call the support service at 8-800-550-05-00 and leave a complaint. The operator can return the money after such requests.

Megafon subscribers can connect to an unlimited content account for free in any operator’s salon. To do this you need to have your passport with you. The operator also includes a ban on subscriptions for subscribers who have signed up for bank card Megafon, linked to the main account.

Such an account can also be connected through the contact center by phone, but only for three months.

And in the mobile application.

If a user discovers that he accidentally subscribed to a service, he should call the support service at 611 and leave a complaint. The operator can return the money after such requests.

How to protect yourself from connecting subscriptions in the future

To control costs, the subscriber can connect a separate personal account from which content costs will be debited.

You can fill out an application for opening a content personal account at Tele2 subscriber service centers. For this operation, the owner of the SIM card must have a passport with him.

The operator’s website contains commands for replenishing and checking an additional account.

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The “My Conversation” tariff from Tele2 is budget option from the entire line offered by the operator. Suitable for users who prefer to communicate by phone within the network of their home region without restrictions. It is also possible to call numbers of other operators, in which case minutes are limited. The Internet package is not designed for watching movies and videos. There is enough traffic for communicating in instant messengers and checking [...]

Tele2 subscribers choose the “My Tele2” tariff due to the ability to communicate without restrictions within the network and in various instant messengers. IN tariff plan includes an Internet package, which is enough for checking mail and reading news. Before connecting to the “My Tale2” tariff, study in detail its characteristics, the cost of calls, SMS and other services included above the subscription fee. You can talk about all this [...]

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Today, the mobile operator Motiv offers various tariffs to suit every taste.

When choosing a tariff, pay attention to what kind of Internet it includes: at what speed and in what volume.

Very often we choose the cheapest option, but already in the middle of the month it turns out that all the available traffic has been used up, which means we will have to pay extra for using the Internet.

It also makes no sense to connect the most expensive tariff with 100 GB of Internet traffic per maximum speed if we only check our email once a day.

Among the least expensive tariffs on Motiv are “All Russia!” (6 GB at maximum speed), “For 300 per month” (4.5 GB at maximum speed), “For 600 per month” (15 GB at maximum speed). Tariff “139” offers 1 GB at maximum speed.

The NEXT FREE tariff and the “Very Simple Tariff” offer Internet services costing 6.60 rubles. for 1 MB.

Active Internet users may be interested in the “INTERNET for 200”, “INTERNET for 450”, “INTERNET for 450” and “INTERNET for 990” tariffs that offer Mobile Internet at maximum speeds of 5, 20, 50 and 100 GB, respectively.

Additional packages

Also some of the tariffs mobile operator offer a service additional connection Internet to an existing cellular tariff. For example, the “Turbo button” makes it possible to use Internet traffic without any restrictions within 24 hours from the moment it is turned on.

It will cost 60 rubles. Or for 100 rubles you can connect a separate “1 GB” package for a month. When connecting to the Internet Marathon service, the user is provided with 150 MB of Internet traffic at maximum speed per day.