| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 4:37:53 AM | Hi, I received a text message today from "Marla" at "FISH" using the 19910006 service -- I looked this up and this is safedivert.com. Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize until too late that this service costs $5 to send a text message to, and I had sent over 15 text messages before realizing this. I tried explaining to "Marla" that this cost me money and asked her to please sms my phone number or msn me, or search me on plentyoffish "SuperNova20". When I searched for her username "marla_365", no results came up. When I told her "Ahh! This is costing me $5 to send! Sms or call my number!" She said "Am I not?" And I sent another message explaining that It cost me $5 to send to 19910006, I didn't have her number. She replied "Are you mad at me now :(", and I am $100 less on phone credit today (my fault, not POF fault). I am wondering if this Marla_365 is a real person or have I been scammed? Have you recently deleted a "Marla_365" account? She sounded very interesting in the text messages we exchanged.
She didn't seem to reply at all to my suggestions to search my pof account, saying instead "damn, how long will you be online?" when I suggested she do that.
..Sigh. thanks for reading my vent. Please tell me if "Marla_365" has ever been a plentyoffish user. I'm not sure how she got my phone number -- I didn't sign up for SafeDivert until she msg'd me. I'm guessing it was a user on the site who I sent an e-mail too where I included my phone number, but I cannot find Marla_365 in the user search or my sent messages.
Please advise.  | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 4:45:32 AM | this has nothing to do with plentyoffish.com
heck, plentyoffish.com doesnt even have your #, how would anyone be able to get it from them????
in fact, i doubt this has anything to do with any user either
I DOUBT THERE IS ANY "USER" WITH THIS NAME
sounds like you got duped by some type of spam scam
basically sounds like you recieved a random text message and you fell for the bait
i get similar stuff on occassion offering stuff like predicting my future etc.
bottom line, you got a text and assumed it must be legit when it wasnt.
and for gawds sake STOP RESPONDING TO THESE TEXT MESSAGES
she may sound "real interesting" but thats how scammers get you to KEEP TEXT MESSAGING
most likely the reason shes not responding to your direct messages is because you've been busy trying to romance a BOT - in other words you're just getting a standard reply
you better get on the phone to your cellphone company pronto and check to see if there is anyway of unsigning up from whichever service you accidentally signed up with | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 4:50:28 AM | Damn. I pretty much just got gypped then. My fault. ...dammit. I dunno, I figured it was some girl I e-mailed my phone number too. And yeah, I'm done responding. Damn I've been played the fool...
sigh. maybe one day a girl on pof will respond to my messages and want to meet :S.
Cheers Allison.. I appreciate it. | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 4:51:56 AM | you need to do more than just stop text messaging
some of these services sign you up for monthly reoccuring charges too
who knows what you got yourself involved with
check with your phone company pronto
i know of other people that got involved with different yet similar scams and the ONLY way they were able to stop the charges were to change their cellphone number
call your cellphone company and see what they suggest you do
they may also dispute the charges for you if you're lucky | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 4:57:28 AM | nah i bet my last $ its a bot
you'd be surprised at how talented they are
heck, if they werent so talented, people wouldn't be falling for it
bots can be trained to pick up on words you're saying, etc
i used to run a chatroom and had a good bot stay in the room for me while i was gone
people would come in and hold conversations with the bot, not realizing that it was all automated (you think they wouldda known cause the bot was called something like Allison Bot) - not all bots are bad but for the mostpart they can be and can pick up on key words and respond accordingly
as a sidenote i've been seeing a lot of bots on yahoo messenger that appear to be someone saying hi and then ... once you start communicating with it, it will eventually spam you with a link to see more, where no doubt you'd be charged | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 4:57:47 AM | Thanks.. I'll do that this thursday, go into the store (Thursday is late night shopping).
......god dammit. And I thought I was so smart and so lucky. Would have never imagined myself falling for a scam before, usually see right through them :S. Thanks for the help.. | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 5:01:55 AM | no no... dont wait until thursday
call your cellphones customer service NOW..... NOW
who knows what charges could mysteriously accumulate between now and Thursday
you may have a chance at getting reimbursed but i doubt it if you contact them 2 days after you found out there was a problem
its sorta like loosing your credit card, you need to call asap to limit liability
one thing you'll find is that YOU NEED TO TEXT MESSAGE UNSUBSCRIBE
i did a little google search and found the info to do so, but as i can not verify the legitity of this webpage i would tell you to contact your cellphone company and find out what they say the # is to unsubscribe from these text messages | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 5:07:00 AM | doesnt matter
but heck, its your choice if you select to continue to be a victim
no one can make you stop it, it ultimately is your choice
you can lead a horse to water but you certainly cant make him drink
personally i wouldnt want to chance anyone doing more but heck, it is your money to waste - can they put a lean on your account for when you put more money on your pre-paid - could it potentiall affect your credit history - who knows i doubt it but personally i like to limit my liability and frankly by delaying you're gonna have ZERO chance of recovering your money
i think you'll find your cellphone company will tell you that you need to text unsubscribe to "x" number to avoid future liability
CALLING YOUR CELLPHONE COMPANY COSTS ZERO DOLLARS
NO - DONT TEXT MESSAGE BACK UNTIL YOU ^^^^
vvvvvvv | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 5:11:18 AM | Yah, I understand what you're saying.
But I can't recharge now without using a credit card, I don't wish to do that. I can't send an SMS either, no credit. So, I'll just wait, go into the store, buy $10 of credit or w/e, send an SMS and then get them to block that number and not charge my account to it anymore. | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 5:15:35 AM | well pick up another phone elsewhere, go to a payphone, go to your neighbours phone, go to any friggin phone and call your cellphones tollfree number
i will say, i did a little reseach on this matter and you might want to report the user you gave your number to and mention you're suspicious it may had been harvested and was used in a mobile phone scam
i found out that what happened COULD be a scam happening on some dating sites
the info i read basically says this:
The scammers profile:
You probably heard it before: if it looks to good to be true, it mostly is!
To get you on the hook, mobile phone scammers often work with professional photos of the hottest girls you’ve ever seen. Their profile description is fairly generic, they are “up for anything”, “love having sex” with pretty much “anyone”.
If you don’t fall for the mousetrap just by browsing past this irresistible profile, they might contact you with a flirt or a message. The messages are usually fairly long for a first message, and always end with the same call to action: they supply you with an msn messenger address to contact them on asap OR they will ask you to send them their phone number. Once you contact them on msn it won’t be long until they say: “it would be great to chat on the phone, why don’t you (you guessed it…) send me your number?”
So, please remember: if Carmen Electra contacts you, telling you how much she is “up for anything” and asks you for your number straight away…chances are she is not real and has alternate motives! - (from adultsonly)
anyways i'm done before i slam my head into the monitor | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 5:35:38 AM | From: safedivert.com.au
Service charged at $5.00 per message sent, $10.00 per week subscription, to cancel text stop.
If you went there to activate this service, go back there for details how to cancel. It says very clearly in their Terms & Conditions the cost is $5.00 per sent text message. So, you may be out of luck. However, if it ever is found out that safedivert.com is scamming people out of their money, then you may have a case. And as mentioned previously, contact your mobile phone provider IMMEDIATELY! They may have experience with this company.
Google search:
safedivert complaints
and read what firstkiss.com had to report last August.
The username you mentioned in your OP does not exist on POF. You can add a name to your Favorites and if they do not appear in your list, they do not exist. See the link below for more on this.
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts9562675.aspx#9571822 | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 5:45:43 AM |
Service charged at $5.00 per message sent, $10.00 per week subscription, to cancel text stop.
Thank you Otto for posting this. I knew there must be a subscription fee involved. See, ignoring the problem won't resolve it. | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/24/2008 7:00:28 AM | I predict a new worldwide mandatory class for children. "Scam Prevention Fundamentals".
It amazes me that in this day and age, young people (who all seem to have a cell phone plastered onto their ears, and a computer stuck to their fingertips) are NOT aware that scams are running rampant on all those sites they like to frequent (none mentioned, non forgotten).
And another one.... "Read Terms and Conditions before you JUMP at something Fundamentals" | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:50:47 AM | LMAO. Just found this thread by accident. I just got hit by this same scammer the other day! Chinese looking girl, looked like a stripper by the pictures (that's not what I was after, btw).
I gave my cell phone # and an internet messenger ID. She got me into some text chat pay-per-message service, called "safedivert.com" Hopefully I'll only be billed as expected for about $12 for the texts. I kept trying to tell "her" that the texting was pricing, and there were better ways. "She" kept giving excuses. I finally shut that down.
Later I DID get a message on the internet messenger program. It was a link to nude girls webcam. There was a correlation - indications of something in the Chesapeake Bay area, i.e. Baltimore, MD.
Yep. I'd been scammed. | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 6/30/2008 11:20:16 AM | Their profile went up and came down the same day. I knew before the day was out that I'd been scammed.
I havent yet checked with my cell provider though - glad I found this thread. Thanks for the suggestions. I did send "stop" via text, but who knows. I'm hoping/expecting that the business is technically legitimate but using underhanded tactics to scam people. That is, hopefully if you follow their website directions, all should be ok. I saw now mention of a subscription fee for the charge structure associated with the text system I used (number code 68791 in the text - that's the sender's effective reply number).
I'm not finding much reference to this site using search engines. Probably pretty new.
BTW, to make any victims including OP feel better, I think it may very well have been a human. I'm sure bots can be very sophisticated. But there were replies to my wording that I cannot see a logical program coming up with. It would be pretty damned sophisticated aritificial intelligence. I'm an engineer, work with programming a lot, understand the concepts. Anyway... just hope I'm not getting financially raped over this. | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 7/15/2008 5:33:22 PM | I exchanged a few emails with a user the last few days. In her latest response she said she doesn't really like IM programs, but would rather text and asked for my number.
I went ahead and sent my number, as at this time, we had conversed enough to lead me to believe she was real and legit.
Next day I get a text using safedivert. Red flags went up right away, and I did not respond. I did some research, and decided this was a scam, and reported her profile.
I'm confident that since I never replied to the text I'll be all right as far as billing goes, but it is disappointing to say the least. | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 7/15/2008 5:51:51 PM | Send me her user name as well, and I'll see if I can expedite the matter. Check with your phone carrier regarding such matters just in case.
I went ahead and sent my number, as at this time, we had conversed enough to lead me to believe she was real and legit.
you would be utterly surprised at what lengths some users can pull - truly worthy of being studied round the clock by a team of doctors, psychologists and psychotherapists somewhere in an arena in Vienna ...
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 7/24/2008 12:21:33 AM | Anatomy of the scam:
1. Hot chick goes on many dating sites asking for numbers.
2. Data collection of numbers takes place at safedivert.com/safedivert.com.au
3. 'Lead' sent out to unsuspecting target
4. People reply and get charged.
Now there are 4 parts to why this is a scam:
1. Charging for reply. The carrot is the hot chick.
2. If you do a bit of digging around you'll see that the website is registered to a PO Box in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (both of them) to a company called Mobilegate. The fact SafeDivert also had it's own dating site tells me it's a scam (why would a diversion service want to compete with the major dating sites?)
3. Bit more digging (on the legal/financial side) and you'll soon see that Mobilegate is not a business registered anywhere in Australia
4. Which means this scam is about charging for identity theft (since Mobilegate will sooner or later get your CC details off your cell/mobile provider). | |
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 8/4/2008 2:17:21 PM | I read about this before.. on a completely different site.. .. and now all of a sudden i see it now here.
I read thier site. Saying that how the system works. They say:
So you've met someone at a club or maybe even online and they've given you their number but now you're not sure about calling them, so maybe its time for a text message.
But a text message reveals your number and you don't really want them to know your number yet just in case.
Introducing our Safe Divert service, our service allows you to send and receive text messages between two phones without revealing your number to the other party.
Both parties simply send and receive texts via our special premium safe divert number.
It's easy, the messages are transferred instantly between the two phones it's just like normal text messaging except you and your number remain safe.
So obviously the number of the party (victim) is aquire by the thier system. The way I been reading it on other sites is that they (the scammers, probly the company itself) pose as Hot babes on forums to get you to contact them to give out your cell phone number. Boom they got you cause now you will be billed whether you like it or not andd according to thier information (thought it isnt mentioned exactly in detail on thier site) , that people who have been victim of this service, claim that they (the service ) states that they are not responsible.
If that was in USA they WOULD be held responsible. Your phone number is not safe thats obvious!
I remember this type of scam before although not the same company name, the scam was Basically the same. WOmen would break in to a private chat with you on other singles sites and talk all nice nicey to you!.. and then all of a sudden ask you for your phone number. Tehy even claim they are local to you so you dont need to provide area code as it wouldnt be long distance... DUHHHH cause on the singles site your profile tells what EXACTLY where you are and they can get your AREA code that way!.. hehehe! it is only obvious!
I seen it. Back then they tried to pull that scam on me too. But of course I dont fall for that. It was just so sudden.. so iI said what the heck and gave them my number (wihout area code) "911-0101" hehehe.. well if it was local they probly had Law inforcement agency right there on the spot hehehe!
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| Admin, need help. Have I been scammed? Do you know this user?
Posted: 8/4/2008 3:10:33 PM | So obviously the number of the party (victim) is aquire by the thier system. The way I been reading it on other sites is that they (the scammers, probly the company itself) pose as Hot babes on forums to get you to contact them to give out your cell phone number. Boom they got you cause now you will be billed whether you like it or not andd according to thier information (thought it isnt mentioned exactly in detail on thier site) , that people who have been victim of this service, claim that they (the service ) states that they are not responsible.
Some Users have never given out their Phone Numbers except when they created an Account with Jangl's Voice Mail, but never contacted anyone, or replied back.
The Service then went "Off-Line" for Plentyoffish.com
Subsequent to that we started to get similar Types of Complaints, and when you add it all up, I suspect they may have sold the Database they were entrusted with.
 | I have no Proof, but my first Hunch. |
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