Inventing ever new types of fraud, scammers completely occupy most areas of online services. They have already become active in providing paid subscription services. Victims of such fraud are users of social networks and messengers who receive similar advertisements for paid subscriptions to various resources:
- SMS messages;
- social networks;
- email;
- pop-up ads on websites and apps.
Subscription Fraud
Scammers are actively operating on the social network Telegram, sending messages to various groups, offering a gift in the form of a premium subscription to Telegram. It contains a link to a page that turns out to be phishing. To subscribe, the user needs to:
- register a phone number;
- enter a password;
- provide an additional confirmation code.
This information is immediately passed on to scammers who easily gain access to the victim's account.
Automatic Card Withdrawals
When subscribing online to various resources, apps, websites, a user must provide personal data, including a phone number and bank card number used to pay for services. This opens access for scammers to the bank card and allows for automatic charges for services, often hidden. For example, a user is offered a one-month subscription to familiarize themselves with the resource at a discounted price, and if the user doesn't agree, they can decline further payments. But the next month, it may come as a surprise that the resource has charged a monthly subscription fee from your card.
Offering to use paid services, scammers deceive users by promising them more quality and comprehensive information. For example, a subscription to a job-providing channel, if a person is looking for a job and turns to such a service, scammers become active, offering a paid subscription that will allow the user to receive the most relevant and fresh vacancies in the job market first. Subsequently, it turns out that the information is not updated and messages are outdated, but the service is already paid for, and no actions are taken.
Hidden Online Subscriptions
Scammers often send messages where information is presented as urgent and reliable, requiring you to urgently follow a link and subscribe to a channel, allowing you to use the group without restrictions. It is very common for such a thing that when you follow a link to one of the Telegram channels, you are offered to subscribe to the channel, there may be several of them, to reach the advertised app or group. Often these subscriptions are serviced by bots and do not bring useful information, but the user ends up with numerous subscriptions on their phone, constantly sending unnecessary information.
Fraud with Mobile Subscriptions
Scammers cleverly organize scams so that, without realizing it, a user may accidentally subscribe to various kinds of subscriptions out of inattention or curiosity, to read some advertisement or banner on the internet, clicks a button on the screen without understanding the essence of the matter. After the promotional subscription ends, i.e., free days that are usually offered to the user, they have already forgotten that they used the promotional subscription offer, and in a month or two, the payment for the subscription will be a surprise for them.
How to Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions
In the personal accounts of most mobile operators, you can track the presence of services and payments for them. If the operator offers any subscriptions, they must be displayed in the personal account, just familiarize yourself with them and remove the subscriptions you don't need.
To cancel a subscription on Android, it's enough to use the Google Play app, as subscriptions in this app are renewed automatically, and every month or year certain funds are deducted from the account until the subscription is canceled. Just go into the app and in the subscription functions, select the necessary subscription and cancel it. Another way to remove a subscription is to completely delete the app, the subscription will be canceled, but the funds for previous payments will not be returned.
Financial Traps of Subscriptions
It often happens that companies to retain their audience:
- use work with subscriptions, most of their profit services from subscriptions get thanks to users;
- do not fully clarify all the rules of billing by the company, and there is a lack of transparent communication;
- companies warn their consumers once about the subscription terms and its duration, after which the subscription becomes automatic and can be disabled only in the program or app settings.
Scams with Subscription Services
The subscription service scams described above are not a new scheme on the internet, but subscribers of various services constantly fall victim to paid subscriptions. It is possible that for a scammer, it is enough to get one payment from each inattentive user for enough funds to drop into the account.