A blog about scams. Exposing the scams and giving tips on how to avoid them. At times making complete fun of the would be scammers.
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4/16/11
guessology.com scam alert
Guessology.com surveys and premium text message service a scam!
Company Information:
guessology.com
607 - 36 Eglinton Avenue West
Toronto, ON M4R 1A1
Canada
Phone: (877) 707-6177
Several reports have been coming in about this scam business. They attach a survey to sites like Google and Facebook, which is not authorized. They claim to be conducting the survey for the site you are trying to reach and are offering prizes for completing the survey. During the survey you are asked for your cell phone number and email address.
After the survey, you start getting premium text messages which you get charged for through your cell phone provider. If you text back "stop" like it says to do in their directions, they start texting you from a different number. Nowhere on the survey does it say you will be text messaged or charged for anything. This type of scam is known as cramming, they charge for each text they send you so of course they want to text you as much as possible.
The latest report is that they are trying to attach their unauthorized survey to Facebook and Google, so be aware.
If you have been taken by this company there are things you can do:
1. If you have online access to your cell phone account, block premium message services or call your cell phone provider and ask them to block it for you.
2. See about filing a dispute complaint through your cell phone provider. Make Guessology prove you agreed to any charges.
3. If you feel really angry, contact your attorney general's office about the fraud; you may not think it amounts to much but each complaint gets documented. If enough complaints get filed someone will have to respond.
4. File a complaint with the FTC www.ftc.gov. Since it is a fraudulent text being sent out it, can be considered for an FTC complaint even if it appears the company is based in Canada.
Key Words: facbook survey, google survey, guesslogy, mobile media solutions, guessology.com
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I just got this too, I went to go on Facebook and the survey popped up, I couldnt get around it so I just answered it Now I keep getting stupid texts from them. I went to the website to find out about unsubscribing my cell # and couldnt find out how to do it.. ANYONE KNOW??
ReplyDeleteI was getting texts from them also at all hours of the night with a "0" in the text message..I finally replied with "quit using my number for unwantd text messages" and they replied that I was unsubscribed. Also I called AT&T and they advised me that no charges were made because I already had the purchase blocker on my cell.
DeleteThis is a cram scam. Wife apparently got a text message with a "negative opt-in." No reply since she never uses TM service. Got a $9.99 charge on our wireless bill this month. Verizon took the charge off, but didn't have much helpful info on the scammers. Called FCC, Ohio AG and am now trying to spread the word on these lowlifes.
ReplyDeleteThey are a major scam. They sent me that stupid txt charging money that i never autherized i txt back stop immediately and they charged me 100.00... I feel they need to be brought to justice
ReplyDeleteI got numerous texts from Guessology.com and it initially came up on the internet indicating that I've won a prize. It then proceeded to ask which prize I would like to pick and requested for contact info. They started to auto-text me numerous times and auto-charged $9.99 each time I received a text. I did not realize that they're autocharging me for $9.99 nor did I subscribe to their service. It's a major scam and I lost $70 due to the texts received.
ReplyDeleteMy wife too fell prey. Called TMO and they said they can't do anything about it but cancelled the sub for the coming month.
ReplyDeleteI just got billed ..$10 per message from guessology!!!!
ReplyDeleteGuessology is the seconds scam I've had on my AT&T bill the fist was a $15 charge for a company called Transaction Clearing that I supposedly signed up for so I could send faxes from my home computer! No wonder to me why there have been three class action suites against AT&T!
ReplyDeleteThis just happened to me, same scam. They took $9.99 off my Pay As You Go account and that's just pure evil! I'm unemployed and need those minutes for jobs, not stupid texting. So I filed a complaint w/ FTC and I'm posting my rant at every place I can find. I never gave these criminals my permission to take money out of my account. Until I land employment I have plenty of time to stir up a stink, too.
ReplyDeleteI had $10 charge from Guessology Primium Message for answering my cell about a fake BestBuy award. I switched off my phone a minute or two when I realized it was a scam. Be sure to READ the text message you received unexpected since I ignored them until I received the bill. Be careful.
ReplyDeletePLEASE HELP. I cannot file my complaint about Guessology with FTC since my cell number starts with 778 which is invalid on FTC site. Guessology called my cell with a fake BestBuy award and charged me a $10 Premium Message. Please help me filing a complaint with FTC.
ReplyDeleteI got charged $10 a month from guessology too. I traced it back to when I was online trying to get a girt card and the site told me "you must confirm your mobile number to get your prize" so they sent me a pin number that I entered. turns out, that's actually a $10 program they bill you for each month and has nothing to do with the gift card. I found it again and it looks like the company is called fluent media. I called verizon and they refunded me for the charges.
ReplyDeleteSame here, got it from a gift card (The New Wave of Redesigned Jeans). Maybe there was a typo when I entered the URL? Will call AT&T now to have it blocked.
ReplyDeleteGot the charge on our phone bill ATT knew about this but does not remove the charge unless you ask them. We were also told about a 'purchase blocker' where you can answer no but you need a four digit number in front of your no and that will block it, you then will need a pin number for anything to be purchased from your phone. My beef is with ATT because they know about this and that it is cramming but don't do anything about it because it appears they get a cut
ReplyDeleteI received my Rogers wireless bill this July and noted that I was charged $20 for 2 premium text messages that I did not send. I called Rogers Wireless and I was placed on hold for about 30 minutes as the customer service guy said he has to find out what kind of text "premium text" is. He came back and said that the $20 premium text message is from Guessology. I had nothing to do with this company and I don't know how I was charged for the text I did not send. This is really a big scam going around Toronto. Any one know how I can file a complaint against this company?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
ReplyDeleteYou can file a complaint against this kind of phishin sites on this. I just fell for this scam. I caught myself before I hit the confirm button but i dnt know if I will escape this. if I get charged I will file the complaint.
I got scammed from youtube when i mistyped youtube as youyube and landed on the scam page. This is their landing page. http://videorewardcentral.com/?sov=12004
To all teh people who have been charged already wrongfully, please complain.
Same here in Ottawa. It is Rogers that us Billing so I say it is rogers that is responsible for letting 3rd party have direct access to my billing account. I am waiting for a reimbursement. If this thing is not solved quickly I think ROGERS is going down!
ReplyDeletei call rogers about that scam and they told me nothing they can do about it why should i get charge for something i didn't use more money for rogers because they really need it
ReplyDeleteI just went to bookface.com (for the hell of it) and the survey popped up and looked bogus and now I see this. I just did a whois lookup and see this as a contact number
ReplyDelete+45.36946676
How about just for spite everyone does the survey and fills in that phone number and they can bill themselves!
They are now preying on people that are applying for jobs on Calgaryjobshop.ca Beware when trying to apply for a job, as they will take your phone numbers!
ReplyDeleteF these people!
ReplyDeleteRogers is enabler of this company, funny when I called Rogers one of the supervisors said “you must have subscribed to the text messages, and now you have changing your mind”. For sure Rogers is getting a cut. 40 minutes on the phone yet they refused to reverse my $20 charge.
ReplyDeleteFor Sprint Customers: They helped me out, just call them and say you started getting texts from these companies, they can block multiple short codes and will annotate your account for any charges to be reversed assuming it happens. Apparently they get a lot of calls about this junk...
ReplyDeleteI started recieving these text messages, even when I hadn't entered my no. on any site. I even replied STOP, but still continued to send this messages. When I recieved my cell phone bill, I was charged $20. I use the services provided by Fido, who are not taking responsibility for anything. I called and spoke to the company that had billed me and they told me that, guessology was no longer a part of their company. They transfered me to an inbound call center - Adam Employee id 7048, told me that I will have to mail the head office which obviously didn't have an email address. I am not sure if this company even has a head office.
ReplyDeleteThis is the address provided - 3317 East Bell, Unit 101-136, Pheonix, AZ.
Does anyone have any idea how to get to this company. Has anyone got a refund back?
That money needs to be refunded.
I am on the phone now with At&T and they are not helping me to prevent a charge. I told then I have been receiving these text messages and I have not responded to them. AT&T said they could not block the numbers but they would reimburse me for 20 cents per message these stupid people are sending me. This is some bull. I never give my cell phone number to any site for crap and I still get this scam crap.
ReplyDeleteI got scammed this weekend, when using Netflix. Looks like they are taking info from corporate databases (or Netflix is selling them the info) and they had my cellphone number already!!! I lodged a complaint with the FTC.
ReplyDeleteI hope we can take these MFs down.
Just call them 1-877-707-6177 within 24hrs (30 days guarentee) and say you were not satisified with their service. Demand a full refund 9.99 (nicely), otherwise they will only give you half back.
ReplyDeleteIf they say once you put that pin back online there is no refund tell them unless you were not satisified (in their own small print bs).
However they will only send you a check in the mail in 15-20 business days. So I'll let you know if I get my check next month.
Sometimes I really hate the internet...
So I got scammed las night, I have a go phone account to n I don't kno if they will take the charge out monthly i txtd stop n I haven't got one yet so if any one know how it works plz tell me I can't afford to jus throw ten dollars away. I'm gonna raise so much hell them to!!!!
ReplyDeleteguessology attached itself to a site for stapleseasyrebate.com with a prize....thinking it was a staples prize I filled out my cell number once and immediately it began texting me with a $9.99 charge and a STOP if I didn't want it....phone number on text is 18777076188 or mobilemediasoulutions. Mobilemediasoulutions text says The quickandtasty subs. that would be for recipes from mobilemediasoulutions!!! Really>>>>have now received 4 textmsgs from this sight and not happy...called ATT..told to continue to reply STOP and....they will cover the textmsgs.....also called Staples to FYI the guessology attached to their site. thanks for listening.
ReplyDeleteThis site popped up requesting a survey to be filled out for Walmart and in return for filling out the survey, Walmart would send a $250 gift card. (We own shares in Walmart and do a lot of business with Walmart.) To verify the cell # is correct I needed to enter my cell # & I would get a code to enter to complete the survey. There was no disclosure anywhere, on the survey nor in the text message that any amount would be charged or that I would be subscribing to anything. After starting the survey I noticed that the questions were inane and nothing that a business would ask. This was no marketing survey! Also while I was filling out the survey I kept getting text messages. I stopped doing the survey once I saw how stupid the questions were and called AT&T immediately. They put a stop purchase control on my account. It turns out that these scammers charge $9.95 for each text they send and that I had been signed up for some recipe program. All this without any disclosure what so ever. At&t says that any text messages from these scammers should be forwarded to 7726 so they can use the messages to investigate .AT&T says they get a lot of complaints about these scammers.
ReplyDeleteI just got charged $9.99 for something I never subscribed. Verizon said they couldn't get my money and I called the thieves directly and they refused to give me my money back. I am furious. I had Verizon block the so called premium texts. I never knew of anything like that before so now its blocked. Calling them made no difference.. they have my money and couldn't give a hoot less. I was so mad I ripped into the woman and really let her have it but none of those thieves give a darn.
ReplyDeleteI recieved the text message from facebook when i saw my friend got a $50 gift card to starbucks so i thought the survey was real. A couple hours later i recieved a message from "ifriendshare" saying "A program named iFriendShare is trying to contact you. To allow for 24 hours, reply A. To always allow, reply W. reply D to reject." i tried to google this program but nothing comes up, as if they dont even exist. Does anyone know what this is ? or if it is a scam ? I have not replied to it.
ReplyDeleteI got a few charges for $19.98. I called Verizon and the customer service rep. stated that giving out your cell number is enough for them to do this. In other words, I did not go through with the transaction but they had my number. Verizon removed the charge from the current bill and put a block in place. Thank you for the info. :-)
ReplyDeleteI JUST WANT MY MONEY BACK...I TO DID A SURVEY ON FACEBOOK AND HERE COMES GUESSOLOGY..THERE CSR ARE RUDE&NASTY...THEY SAID NO TO MY REFUND CAUSE I PUT THE PIN NUMBER IN TO VERIFIED MY NUMBER..
ReplyDeleteAs soon as you get a message from Guessology.com, call your carrier let them know they've been connected with scams, ask them to note your account, and get their employee id#. Doing this will show them that you werent't subscribed to anything at the time of your call and they will be able to remove the charges at your next bill, if any show up. I have At&T and this is what Eli (employee# EE7862) recommended.
ReplyDeleteRemember, TCPA has a $500 penalty which you can collect against unsolicited texts, calls, etc. [assuming you are "do not call" registered"]. Trouble with Guessology is they're Canadian, but still subject to our laws within our borders [on our phones].
ReplyDeleteMajor scammers. They attached a fake "you are today's winner" on Nordstroms.com for a gift card. Everything looked legit. When I entered in information to confirm for the prize, that is when the texts began. Got charged $9.99 on my bill, without any warning. At&t credited back the charge and stopped the subscription.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. I called Verizon to dispute the charge, and they said they would credit. I also filed al complaint with the FTC!
ReplyDeleteGo talk to your Phone service provider right away. Have them block thier number, even though they have more numbers, and take the charges off your phone. Complain that they need to put an end to having someother company being able to come in and add these charges on your bill. Make a scene. Let's put an end to these scammers from Ontario, Canada.
ReplyDeleteThis company has called me every hour just to mess with me....
ReplyDeleteI didn't do surveys, but I got text messages that I didn't know what they were. I ignored them. Then the next month on AT&T bill there were 2 separate charges for $9.99. It said they were for bible trivia and fun facts. I never subscribed to that or received any of them. I asked AT&T if they knew what Guessology was and they told me they didn't. That has to be a lie because there are too many people having issues with this. All I had to do is type their name in a search and got scam reports. Tell me AT&T couldn't know that. I got the charges removed from AT&T. The next month there were charges from the same company on my brother's phone on our family plan. I filed a complaint at Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/. People need to complain. The more complaints the better. I hope these people get what is coming to them.
ReplyDeleteTHEY HAVE MOVED TO THE 3RD FLOOR. THE COMPANY IS CALLED GP SOLUTIONS AND THERE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY OTHER SITES ONLINE. GUESSOLOGY IS JUST ONE. THEY ALSO SEND QUIZZES AND ASTROLOGY
ReplyDeleteI just got this text last night at about 12:15am. The only number attached to it is 85820. No 800 number or full number. I didn't text back because I figured if I did, it would be validation of my number and a way for them to charge me since some scams do actually work that way. I have no idea what I did to give them my number. I am very careful about giving out such info, especially online. I'm glad I didn't text STOP back to them. One person online said that if you do that, they just start texting you from another number. I called my phone company and told them to block the number, told them what it was, and not to accept any charges from the company. I use a pre-paid and have no cash in the cash account at this point anyway, so good luck getting any. Also, for anyone who isn't getting their full refund from these crooks, threaten them with a lawsuit, the attorney general, or ftc.gov, but then you have to follow through! You can file a complaint with the AG and FTC. http://listofscams.blogspot.com/2011/04/guessologycom-scam-alert.html I would continue to harass them by phone if they continue to harass you and won't give back stolen money.
ReplyDeleteI just called US Cellular and they cancelled the services and are filing a complaint with guessology for a refund and have put a "premium service" block on my phone, which will prevent future occurances.
ReplyDeleteFilled out a "survey" on Twitter and thought it was a little odd to provide my mobile number. Then got to the prize confirmation page and read the tiny text at the bottom about an auto-renewing $9 a month charge from Guessology. I immediately left the site, found this helpful site and called AT&T. They've put a purchase limit (aka parental control) on my phone so nothing can be charged without me entering a PIN. Can't believe I entered my cell number.
ReplyDeleteI was scammed by this company.Didt realized I'd signed up,funy part they only send about 1 text every 3 weeks.I finally put a block but text still came.I replied stop,they sent an unsubcribed text.Now,their red exclamation symbol appears in all my sent messagesTrying to figure out how to remoe it.It's probably further SCAM by them
ReplyDeleteI HAVE A COURT DATE WITH MOBILE MEDIA SOLUTIONS LLC, REGISTERED IN AZ, ON MONDAY 2/27/12. BET THEY WILL BE A NO-SHOW; HAD TO SERVE COURT PAPERS THRU AZ CORP COMMISSION. WILL GET A DEFAULT THEN NEED TO COLLECT.
ReplyDeleteANY CLUES ON HUMAN OWNERS AND PHYSICAL LOCATION(S)?
I am in complete awe that companies like this are allowed to continue to carry out this type of activity I am new to this internet technology and maybe naive but I can see criminal activity when it is so blatant. Everyone who has been taken by this scum need to do all they can to disrupt their business. This type of trash rely on being able to simply outlast and wear down people who have other this to do with their time. They know that if they frustrate folks long enough they will eventually give up and will be willing to pay just to be left alone. I need for anyone out there that can find a physical address to post it.This will provide everyone else a point to go at. I know most of you dont have the time and patience to carry out a prolonged battle with this trash. I have plenty of time. A medical condition has given me free time ( until it kills me anyway) that I am willing to use to rub out trash like this I also havs the financial means to do almost any thing that is needed to elimlnate this company.There IS an actual place this crap comes from. Call me what ever you want but I have done somethings that were not right i my life and it is time to do all I can to do some good. Hard working people should not have to worry about thieves every time they turn on their pc or use their phone. I can and will eliminate these scumbags. What do I have to lose I wont live long enough to stand trial. Bottom line I need as much info as I can get on Guessology and the slime that make money from it. Clearly I cant say how or what I will do just suffice to say when I get done there will not be a Guessology. I think when I take out just one maybe others may change their tactics. I wish all of you well and rest assured vengence will be had at their cost
ReplyDeleteGuessology.com is a SCAM!!! They claim to provide Premium Customer Care SMS. They're sending out spams to cell phones and other websites to trick people into subscribe to their fake services. They told me their physical address is 3317 East Bell Rd, Suite 101-136, Phoenix, AZ 85032 (is it true? I don't know.) Their customer service phone #855 707 9988. The company's representative do not give out their full name. However, they will give you an id number. If you run into these problems, call your cell phone provider to report these type of scams and get your refunds. You're welcome!!
ReplyDeleteAs of this morning 7/10/2012 0702 AT&T says sorry buddy you're out of luck. The lady at at&t says they can't control it and you'll have to text stop and pay the freight. I have tried the Indiana attorney general's office and they're worse than at&t. I guess they're being bought off too. Toss your number and try a new one, probably won't work but it's a thought.
ReplyDelete