Fraudulent charges from Premium text messaging company

Has anyone had to deal with guessology.com and their deceptive surveys? Just had an encounter where they attached an unathorized survey to facebook. The claim was they were doing the survey for facebooks 6th anniversary and they were offering prizes. The survey asked three questions one which was cell phone and email address. After the cell phone number was entered the text messages started coming in without a 4 digit authorization code. The company was texted to stop twice but not before they sent 9 text. Did some research and this company has a growing history of fraudulent billing for text messages.
I contacted verizon customer service and got a bunch of runaround answers about how verizon bills for the premium service text messaging company but they really don't have anything to do with them and if there is a complaint then the verizon customer cannot file a dispute through verizon. The not so customer service orientated Verizon rep. tried to claim no one else has ever complained about this type of fraud before to Verizon. I highly doubt no Verizon customer has ever complained about fraudulent text message billing.
Does this sound remotely right? So Verizon is claiming they will take money for a fraudulent charge through their billing service but will not take a dispute regarding that charge? If Verizon is offering their billing services to bill their customer for another compnay then they should also be taking disputes if a Verizon customer has been wrongly billed through Verizon regardless if the billing is for another company. Otherwise Verizon should not allow third party vendors to use them for billing.

Welcome to the boards.
If you do a search, we have beat the premium message subject and how we get them to death,
They ask for your Cell number, but if you search the Terme and Conditions PRIOR to entering the number, you would have known they were going to charge you for the 'Survey'. Some surveys on FB will take your mobile number if you publish it for friends to see and send you surveys and such. But all on FB do spell out what happens, albiet in very small and light gray lettering.
When trying to stop the texts, you only enter STOP, nothing else.

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"Premium Messaging" (aka "Premium Text Messaging) - Blocking 3rd Parties from Generating and Opting Out

<Duplicate post and will be locked. Please see any replies at How can I block text msgs?.>
NOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED AS INFORMATION SHARING
Here is what I've recently learned (the hard way) about "Premium Messaging"/”Premium Text Messaging” charges of $9.99 that show up in the "Usage Charges" section of your monthly bill under Data (taken from an email from a Verizon Wireless Customer Service Rep):
"...Premium Text Messages are services offered by third party content providers. They can offer many different things such as: weather or news alerts, sports score alerts, horoscopes, jokes, and even traffic reports. They can also provide entertainment services such as: games, trivia, chat services, free ring tones, or as a part of social media for services provided through Facebook or other sites. You may also be familiar with television or radio programs that have you vote for your favorite artist by sending a text message to a short five or six digit code. Sending a text to those codes is how you get signed up for these services.
In order to remove it, you simply send a text message from that specific phone to that short code. (34135) In the body of the text, simply write the word Stop. Finally go ahead and send the message. Within a few minutes, you should receive a text back from that company stating that you have cancelled out of their subscription service.
...I recommend sending this text as soon as possible to avoid future charges. Judging by the date you supplied, they appear to charge on the 6th of every month."
What this boils down to is that Verizon is complicit in allowing 3rd parties to occur extra charges via their monthly billing, despite the fact that you may have not realized the text was an "opt out" type. If you read the texts that come in English, the method of opting out is specified, which in my case was replying to the text with just the word STOP – I was thereby opted out, BUT FOR JUST THAT SPECIFIC 3RD PARTY. You should then (IMMEDIATELY) call Verizon customer service at 1-800-922-0204 and request that “Premium Messaging” be blocked.
I believe you can also do this yourself at:
https://wbillpay.verizonwireless.com/vzw/accountholder/uc/UCServiceBlocks.action
You can also read about this subject at:
http://support.verizonwireless.com/faqs/Premium_TXT_and_MMS/faq_premium_txt_and_mms.html - pay special attention to item #4.
For those who say “you should have read your contract more clearly in the 1st place”: my father had died not long before I signed up with Verizon, and I was still in a fog, not really capable of absorbing a lot of information. I don’t remember reading the first such msg I got; I might have even deleted it before reading it completely because at 1st glance you can tell it's a solicitation. What that very brief, 1st glance doesn't scream out at you is the fact that this is something you must reply to opt out of.
Message was edited by: Maki
Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

I called customer service from my phone to get this taken care of, and everything went great.
If anyone else has the same problems, just know that I got this resolved immediately. I put the block on premium messaging last night, and this morning I saw a Verizon Support tweet about this same issue that recommended forwarding the spam message to 7726. I did that and followed some instructions that were replied back to me. Then I went ahead and called customer service, told them the problem, and they issued a credit right away. I just checked and it went into effect immediately.
Like I said, if anyone else has this problem, these steps resolved it perfectly for me. Good job, Verizon.

Ability to block individual premium text messages

I am receiving spam in the form of premium text messages from 33555. My only option appears to be blocking receipt of all premium messages, which will not work for me. I would like the ability to block individual premium text numbers.

You will need to send a Text message with one of the opt-out keywords below to the code that the message is coming from which you stated (33555). This will stop future billing for the Premium Messaging. However, charges for Premium Messaging may appear on the your bill for up to two full bill cycles after the Premium Messaging block has been added to the account. This is due to timing of the bill cycle and the premium service subscription opt-in date.
Quit,
Cancel,
End,
Unsubscribe ,
Stop,
Stop All
If opt-out confirmation not received meaning if you did not get a text right back stated the premium message has been stopped , then that's when we will have to go in and add the premium messaging block to stop you from receiving the alert and charge any further. Hope this Helps

How do i save a picture to the camera roll from a text message in ios 7

I am attempting to save a picture from a text message to my camera roll. However when i hold the picture the options are "copy/More" More gives the options to delete or forward via text message. And if i press copy it only copies it to be pasted. In the past i was given several options to send the pic via email/text/save to camera roll/drop box etc.
Please advise as to how i can save pictures from my text to the camera roll.
Thank you!

If you receive a picture via email or text message in ios 7 and when you press the action icon to save the picture and you do not get the option to save to your camera roll. Press and hold on the the image and you will get an overlay pop up to save the image. I have no idea why some attachments don't have option in action menu to save in the camera roll but by experimentation and earned frustration I found the above to work in certain situations.
Be well and have fun and feel rewarded in your frustrations. For without challenges, life would be an utter bore.

How can i remove the phone number from the text messages that i receive in the notification center

how can i remove the phone number from the text messages that i receive in the notification center?

You choose whether to see text messages in Notification Center or not. If you elect to see them, they will display the phone number (unless they are from a contact in your contacts list).
You can choose not to see them at Settings > Notification Center > Messages.

Is there a way to block someone from sending Text Messages ONLY?

I would like to block a family member from sending text messages but I do not want to restrict calling abilities in case of an emergency.
I have gone to My Verizon>>Safeguards but this option only seems to allow you to block on an "All or Nothing" basis.
Is there a way to prevent someone from sending you text messages while still allowing phone calls?

Thanks for your response. I have an I Phone (I Messages) but the party that I want to block does not have an I Phone.

I want to use my old iphone for my kids as an ipod. How do I keep from getting text messages on it when it is turned on? If it is on, and my droid razar is on, text messages will go to the iphone. It is either a 4 or 4s ...I don't have Siri, so I think

I want to use my old iphone for my kids as an ipod. How do I keep from getting text messages on it when it is turned on? If it is on, and my droid razar is on, text messages will go to the iphone. It is either a 4 or 4s ...I don't have Siri, so I think it's a 4. Thanks

Another thing to remember is the phone is actually usable for 911 calls and maybe others. Not a real good idea. Especially for a child.
It would depend however on the age of the child.
Good Luck

How do I save a single pic to my gallery from a text message

I am able to save pics from a text message if there are multi pics; However, if there is only a single pic sent to me, I can't figure out how to save it to my gallery. Please help.

Have you tried to long press the photo attachment to get a menu option to save the attachment?

How do I copy photos from a text message to my "Photos" location on my iPhone 5s?

My friends send me photos via text messaging and I try to copy them to my "photos" location on my iPhone 5s. So far, I've only been able to create a folder for the photos but have had no luck in copying photos from iPhone text messages to iPhone "Photos" location. My computer OS is Windows XP Pro 64 bit, the most unsupported OS on the planet....even by Microsoft.

Your are welcome. Glad you got that sorted out. If you want to know about the new features in iOS 7, you can download the user manual here,http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1565/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf, you can open it in your iBooks as well.

Can numbers be blocked from receiving text messages and calls?

can phone numbers be blocked from receiving text messages and/or calls on IPhone?

You have to check with your carrier. I know Verizon you can log in and block calls.
You can not selectively do this on the phone.

HOW DO I SAVE PICS FROM MY TEXT MESSAGES TO MY PHONE

How do i save pics from my text messages, not very smart phone savvy!

migjmh wrote:
How do i save pics from my text messages, not very smart phone savvy!
When you are viewing the test message with the picture in it, press and hold on the picture itself and it should vibrate and pull up a menu with the options of "View Picture", "Save Picture", and "Share Picture". Choose which one you want.

How do i save a sound attachment from a text message

How do I save a sound from a text message on my iphone 4s?

You need an app that can save PDF files, such as air sharing, documents to go, Evernote, Dropbox or quickoffice.

HT3529 When texting with other iphone users, the text used to be in a blue bubble. Now it's green. What happened? Am I being charged for these text messages now? I'm with Verizon if that matters.

When texting with other iphone users, the text used to be in a blue bubble. Now it's green. What happened? Am I being charged for these text messages now? I'm with Verizon if that matters.

Thanks for the help, Allan Sampson.
I updated itunes, shut the phone off and on, it still didn't give me blue bubbles. Kept following the suggestions on the page ... I didn't know there was an IMessaging switch, but, shoot, it was OFF. Anyway, I toggled it on and now the text bubbles are blue again.

I can't find the photos after I have saved them from a text message, It says attachment saved, where do they go and how do I get there? Thanks

I can't find the photos after I have saved them from a text message, It says attachment saved, where do they go and how do I get there? Thanks

Here to help shed some additional light on this case, jdondr. I also own a Maxx. With your phone, if you access the Gallery, there should be a folder named: Messaging. If you look at the upper left hand corner, you should see a drop down box. Is it currently set to Albums?
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How do I permanently delete contacts from my text message log?

How do I permanently delete contacts from my text message log? It still shows old contacts once I've removed them from my phonebook

i know that!! After you delete them and then compose a new text it is still there. Basically you know when you send an email to someone and do not store them it still auto populates their name. This is what happens with my phone. I Google this issue and learn some knowledge about data eraser tips. Maybe most people still don’t know that actual contents of file are not really deleted when performing simple deletion operation on your iPhone or other devices. But they are just marked for deletion and not shown in the file system of your iOS device. The actual data are still physically present on your iPhone. For iOS system, the only way to completely erase the data is to overwrite the original contents by using iPhone data eraser app. this is the guide on how to permanently delete contacts on iPhone.
The same thing happens to me, but it doesn't require deleting a contact. When I delete/replace a contact's number, the Messages.app still autocompletes the number with the contact's name and references it as "other".

Fraudulent charges from Premium text messaging company

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