03-18-2012, 10:16 AM

I was reviewing my ATT wireless bill and noticed a charge for $9.99 that i had never seen before and that it was a monthly subscription. A call to ATT gave me little info other than it was a 3rd party charge which I could remove (within 60 days) and cancel the subscription. They also put a free block to prevent any future purchases like this.

Googling MBLOX didn't give a lot more other than some similar complaints of being signed up for their monthly service without authorization.

Apparently the point of the scam is that most people won't pay close attention to their bill.

03-18-2012, 11:00 AM

Thanks for the heads up Razor. I too have AT&T so I'll be sure to look for that or something similar. There's bound to be more than one of those kinds of things going on.

Interesting that they were either unwilling/unable to provide more information about something so basic as what this is.

03-18-2012, 11:24 AM

It sounds like a company that advertises 'free' ringtones on the web

Once you get the ringtone you are subscribed, with the option of a text message on the phone to unsubscribe, a message that most don't seem to receive, once subscribed by this stealthy means you remain billed until you notice the charges

Their site says this about them

mBlox is the world's largest mobile transaction network specializing in providing operator connectivity and mobile billing capabilities to businesses around the globe. They are the intermediary between businesses and mobile operators managing the delivery and billing of mobile content and mobile services.

..which is marketing speak for "We don't want you to know what we actually do as a company".

03-18-2012, 11:48 AM

That makes sense. There were similar outfits / activities iN the days when land lines were still a big deal. The phone providers sometimes did not do a good job explaining those charges.

03-18-2012, 12:17 PM

I've never understood how companies like these are still allowed to run. They only exist to scam money out of people. Should be some kind of illegal activity.

03-18-2012, 09:26 PM

I used to get the same thing on my T-Mobile bill once in awhile. I now have all advertisers and third parties blocked including text messages. It's bad enough getting junk mail but junk phone calls that I have to pay for is too much.

03-18-2012, 10:23 PM

My wife's previous number was one that apparently belonged to someone else at one time or another. Every Thursday thru Saturday she would get texts from a club in Houston advertising who the DJ was for that weekend.

For a long time we ignored it. There were only three or four texts per night and lonely one weekends. One night something went berserk with the system. Over a period of about four hours we got enough texts that it amounted to about $25.00. Given our rate plan at the time that must have equated to about 100 texts. None had a way to opt out.

03-21-2012, 01:44 PM

Mblox is a scam. I've been looking into this for three months now. Mblox the company blames Mobile media for taking $9.99 out of OUR AT&T accounts. You won't find mobile media online anywhere. Mblox says they have nothing to do with it. They gave me this number: 888-890-6150 for a refund... (AT&T will issue a refund, too.) Mblox stole my money from me for three months in a row! I had to call AT&T twice for them to stop.. Now that 888 number is JUST customer service and they'll issue you a refund to, and, give you a confirmation number. They know NOTHING else, and there's no manager. If you keep digging like I did, theyll give you an email address to write to. The email is: support@ihelpmobile.com

Should be... Ihelpmyself to your account. com. I have written them many times for an explanation, but they're very vague in their answer. Check out this simple reply I received from ihelpmobile: "We are not authorized to remove or credit your account, only your carrier is allowed to do that."

I replied: "Oh, but you're authorized to steal it from my account for three months in a row." Call and write these thieves. There should be a class action suit filed against this illegal operation. How many AT&T customers aren't even aware they're being robbed?? Here's my problem... Mblox says you, meaning I, authorized a sale via text message. I told them, I opted out of text messaging years ago. The only text messages I can receive is from AT&T only. I can't send text messages either... The scammers!! Lets put these clowns out of business!

03-22-2012, 09:52 AM

Sounds like someone needs to take the issue to their county attorney and file criminal charges.

03-22-2012, 01:26 PM

I googled for threads in relation to this Mbox problem. I had a $10 charge on my bill, too. I called at&t and they gave me my money back and an ID pin code. I never had this type of problem before. Thanks for the info, tmv. Not sure what zewazir meant, but you dug up some helpful information. Thanks.

03-29-2012, 08:27 AM

Just saw this
Red Tape - After investigation, AT&T, Verizon agree to stop 'cramming' phone bills

What is interesting to me is that according to the article ATT had as many as 80% of their internal phones hit with 3rd party charges

03-29-2012, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by mrmac1

I googled for threads in relation to this Mbox problem. I had a $10 charge on my bill, too. I called at&t and they gave me my money back and an ID pin code. I never had this type of problem before. Thanks for the info, tmv. Not sure what zewazir meant, but you dug up some helpful information. Thanks.

thank you