Australians lost over $160,000 to mobile premium scams last year

For as long as the internet has existed there have been “Nigerian princes” just begging to give their fortunes away. Everyone is wary of the far off royal itching to change their lives, but there is another communications scam that saw Australians lose over $160,000 in 2020 - Mobile premium scams.

Mobile premium scams may not be the most well known grift but anyone who has a mobile phone is vulnerable to them. As a nation, we do alright when it comes to sniffing them out. Only 10% of Aussies who reported a mobile premium scam last year actually lost money from it… Or at least only 10% admitted to losing money from it.

Okay, maybe we’re not all smart people but the better informed we are about potential scammers the less likely we are to fall victim. In this guide we’re taking a look at mobile premium scams in Australia and how you can protect yourself from becoming a statistic.

• What is a mobile premium scam?
• How do these scams work?
• Mobile scam statistics - 2020
• How to protect yourself from scammers
• Where to report a scam

What is a mobile premium scam?

A mobile premium scam encourages you to reply to unsolicited text messages, and charges exuberant fees for these replies. Remember when you paid $5 per text to download the Crazy Frog ringtone? It’s ostensibly similar to that, except now you don’t get to hear an unstable amphibian every time your phone rings and instead you’re rewarded with more messages.

These messages are usually prompts to enter a competition of sorts by replying to the text. They sometimes come in the form of a trivia question, or the request for personal details in order to enter you into a prize draw, or under the guise of a customer survey.

How do mobile premium scams work?

Usually receiving the initial text message is free, however your response could cost up to $4 which is charged to your billing account. Responding to the first message may at times trigger a subscription service of sorts, where you will continue to receive these texts and be subsequently charged per delivery and response.

The con-artists behind this hustle receive the money that you spend on these services. While $4 here and there might not sound like much, it is unlikely that you will even realise the additional fees until your next itemised phone bill. By which stage you may have incurred outrageous subscription costs without even noticing. 

As opposed to subscription services, or ringtone downloads of the Nokia 3310 era, or voting for Australian Idol, where these premium SMS fees are made clear, mobile premium shakedowns are shady. You won’t be informed of the costs and unsubscribing from the service may not be possible through the usual means. It begs to reason that grifters aren’t going to honour that unsubscribe button, so you may be required to go through your telco in order to block the number.

Mobile premium scam stats - 2020

According to Scamwatch, in 2020 1,522 people reported active mobile premium scams and of that 10% of reports lost money as a result.

Our total reported losses via mobile premium scams came to $167,695 in Australia, which is a staggering amount split between the 152 people who fell victim to financial loss due to these scams.

With these numbers we can estimate that each victim lost on average $1,103 through premium mobile scams in 2020, which amounts to approximately 275 text messages charged at $4 a pop.

25-34 year olds lost the most money at a total of $36,441, followed by the 55-64 bracket ($26,220), and then 18-24 year olds ($23,502).

While the vast majority of cases came through phone calls and text messages, 12 people reported mobile premium scams through the mail in 2020.

For a more in depth analysis of the statistics, refer to Scamwatch.

How to protect yourself from scams

In order to protect yourself from mobile premium scams you’ll need to recognise the signs of the swindle. The features of the flimflam. The cues of the con. This '20s hustler lingo roughly translates to, “you’ll need to know what to look out for”.

Be wary of:

• Text messages that offer you the chance to win a prize by sending a return text
• Text messages that offer the chance to win a prize by participating in an SMS trivia contest
• Text messages that do not contain terms and conditions, or an ‘opt out’ option

A few good rules to avoid mobile scammers are:

• Do not respond to calls or text messages from numbers that you don’t know
• Look out for phone numbers that begin with 19 or 190 - these are premium service numbers that charge high rates
• Contact your mobile service provider if you are wary about a phone number
• Avoid giving your mobile phone number out online where possible

How to stop a scam

Stopping a scam that is already underway can be difficult, but your mobile service provider is your best point of contact. You can get in touch with your provider and let them know that these messages and charges are being made without your permission.

You may not be able to reclaim lost money, but you can request that your phone company puts a bar on premium rate services to and from your phone.

Report a scam

If you have been scammed, or an attempt has been made we encourage you to report the scam to the ACCC via the report a scam page.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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