Think you guys had better help spread the word around via email to your friends and family. If it's $1 per subscriber, imagine how much it'll add up to. And I know a lot of folks will not pay much attention to the details of the charges on their statements. Here's an example email I sent out, you're welcome to copy and paste it to your emails.
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Hi all,
Just a quick note to let everyone know of a mobile phone scam that's been going round lately in Singapore. If you're a M1 or Singtel subscriber, there might have been recent charges to your account which may have been faked.
Subscribers who have received SMS greetings over the recent Chinese New Year period from the short number 77330 will have been charged $1 per greeting. The service is from a company called mTouche (
www.mtouche.com ), and the charge would have been levied even if you've not subscribed to their greeting service. mTouche has been fined by IDA (
www.ida.gov.sg ) in the past for the same offence but they seem to be doing it again.
Do check your recent statements carefully. So far it seems only M1 and Singtel customers are experiencing this problem but subscribers to other networks should review their statements just to make sure.
The best thing you can do if you've received these extra charges is to send a complain to IDA at
info@ida.gov.sg . Don't bother calling mTouche as they've disconnected their phone lines as of this morning. The telcos claim they are unable to do anything about charges levied by a third party.
Please spread the word around.
