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Capital.gr sheds light on the practices of the companies that manage the well-known five-digit numbers for multimedia services, better known as the five-digit SMS that charges unsuspecting consumers with exorbitant amounts.
Just two days ago, the National Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) decided to impose a fine of 250,000 euros and revoke the license for the mass messaging company “Veoo”.
Imposing such administrative penalties was not an unprecedented experience for Veoo. As Capital.g reveals, the company follows the same practices and charges unsuspecting consumers for high-cost phone services in other countries, such as England and Cyprus.
According to EETT, the main violations of the Cyprus-based Veoo Solutions concerned the arbitrary registration and charging of consumers for the highest cost services provided by the company, ambiguities and inaccuracies regarding the terms of use of the services provided, the inability of consumers to communicate with the Department. Customer service, lack of response from the company to consumer complaints, as well as the use and improper handling of the numbers assigned to the company.
In the same company, in September 2018, the Cyprus Consumer Protection Service imposed a fine of 250,000 euros for unfair commercial practices.
According to the Cypriot Authority, Veoo Solutions ran ads on Facebook using registered trademarks of retail chain stores, urging consumers to win € 500 gift vouchers at those chain stores. After participating in market research to claim gift vouchers, consumers, via text message, subscribed to subscription services for free without notice.
A fine was imposed on VeooLTD, a British company with the same activity as VeooSolutions, but also the same boss, Matthew Winters. In September 2019, after a two-year investigation and a special hearing, the British PSA also fined VeooLTD 600 600,000. and a two-year ban.
In fact, the Veoo case was considered a landmark case for Britain, and the PSA CEO told the BBC that it “sets an important precedent for the market …
During our investigation, we found clear evidence that Veoo knowingly failed to control its processes, resulting in consumer harm. but also that it provided the Regulatory Authority with false information. “.
According to the British company (CompaniesHouse), VeooLTD entered special settlement regime on September 18, 2019, was approved on December 20, 2019 and the company VeooGroupLimited but and VeooHoldingsLimited. In contrast, VeooUK Limited works which was founded on May 23, 2018 with a capital of. 1,000. All the mentioned companies have similar activities (telecommunications services) and Mr. Winders is the director.
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Through its corporate website https://veoomobile.com/, Veoo presents itself as a rapidly growing courier company with a presence in 16 countries.
It turns out that Veoo “grew” after an agreement that was closed with Mr. Panagiotis Dimitropoulos’ InternetQ, which It was recently updated due to its Akazoo subsidiary.
As Veoo states on its website, “We recently (in December 2016) purchased the entities and activities of an InternetQ company in Singapore and its subsidiaries, as well as its subsidiaries in Latin America for $ 1.2 billion.” The company says it operates in 16 different countries and owns 12 companies in the Far East and Latin America.
Veoo appears as a maze with dozens of subsidiaries in areas such as Singapore, Buenos Aires, and Costa Rica. Their website does not mention the administrative team (the relevant page does not exist), nor any financial information. The company claims that it has offices in 14 countries, while for Greece there is only one phone number to which, despite many communication efforts, a company representative did not respond.
Dozens of complaints
Unlike Veoo’s data and managers, which are very difficult to find, the Internet is full of complaints about the company’s practices. A simple search with the company name reveals cases of illegal charges of company five-digit numbers (19015, 19030, 19078, 54811, 54850, 54855, 54855, 54860, 54865, 54866, 54970) that in some cases reached or exceeded a total of 20 euros. .
“I recently received an SMS from a five-digit number on my mobile phone in 19015, they recommended a link to a pornographic site, of course I did not open and delete them directly. Today, when the account was issued and it came to me electronically, I see an additional € 21 charge for sms number 19015, ”said one user on an online forum since 2016.
“These are scammers, as you have understood. For the last two months they have been sending me 8 messages per month for a charge of € 1.6 each. Although I was never registered for their services, after the second message, I did the registration process The caller assured me that the deletion was successful and that I will receive a relevant confirmation SMS. Of course, these SMS never came as long as the charged messages continued to arrive, “says another complaint that was” loaded “just a few days ago.
How to protect yourself from the five digits
Veoo is not the only company that follows these practices, since March an amendment to the EETT Code of Ethics came into effect to increase cargo services.
Pursuant to specific regulatory intervention, the express consent of the user is required to receive the specific services and, as a result, arbitrary user charges are avoided. Even all telecommunications companies can block high-load five-digit numbers.
According to with detailed EETT guide The highest cost services (multimedia information services) are provided through specific number lines and are related to voting, contests, purchases (for example, ‘download’ of games, ringtones, video), televised games with telephone participation, information services (p. x weather), astrology / divination on paper, services for adults, etc.
