Ericsson (IPX) AB (Case reference: 01497)
| Case Number | 01497 |
| Year | 2009 |
| Published date | 29 October 2009 |
| Adjudicated Party | Ericsson (IPX) AB |
| Procedure Type | Emergency Procedure (Phone-Paid Services Authority) |
THE CODE COMPLIANCE PANEL OF PHONEPAYPLUS
TRIBUNAL DECISION
Thursday 15 October 2009
TRIBUNAL SITTING No. 38/ CASE 2
CASE REFERENCE: 811705/AO
Service provider: Ericsson IPX AB, Sweden
Information provider: Mediahub Oy, Finland
Type of service: Web-to-mobile subscription-based competition service
Service title: ‘smswinner.net’
Service numbers: 64546 and 60032
Cost: £2 per question received plus subscription charge
(unknown)
Network operator: All Mobile Network Operators
Number of complainants: 6
THIS CASE WAS BROUGHT AGAINST THE SERVICE PROVIDER
UNDER PARAGRAPH 8.6 OF THE CODE
BACKGROUND
The PhonepayPlus Executive (the ‘Executive’) received six complaints from members of the
public regarding an SMS quiz service which offered prizes to those who could answer eight
questions in the quickest time. One complainant stated to have received charged text messages
after sending the ‘STOP’ command.
The Executive monitored the website smswinner.net and discovered various potential breaches
of the Code. The monitoring of the service, and the message logs provided by the Information
Provider, indicated that the ‘STOP’ command did not work, as further chargeable text messages
were being received after the user sent ‘STOP’ and ‘STOP ALL’ to the shortcode on which the
service was operating. Consequently, the Emergency Procedure was invoked by
PhonepayPlus on 21 September 2009 which required the Service Provider to switch off the
service.
(i) Monitoring the service
The Executive monitored the service on two occasions using separate mobile phones.
On 18 August 2009, the Executive visited the website ‘smswinner.net’ and selected a
competition (‘Trip to Japan worth £2300’), answered the simple question in ‘step 1’ and entered
the monitoring mobile number on the web page in ‘step 2’. Following receipt of the two free
instructional messages on the mobile phone, the Executive received and answered the eight
questions via SMS messages. The Executive then received the following free text message
twice in succession:
“Competition is ending. The next competition is starting tomorrow. The prize is a trip to Japan”
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