<removed> Phone charges

[marcusbennett]

Dear All,

Just thought I would do an information dump about <removed> text messages.

These come from PayPal with a security code in the normal way if you setup 2 Factor SMS authentication.

They are legit, you get the code and use it to paypal logon.

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HOWEVER

Last year in October 2019 when I paid for something I got a message  like this

This was a legitimate purchase and the message from PayPal came moments later.  i was paying the UK postal service so thought they could not have been hacked.

I replied with a 1 as shown

I WAS VERY SURPRISED THAT MY MOBILE CARRIER THEN CHARGED ME ABOUT 80 PENCE TO REPLY TO THE FLIPPIN SMS

<removed>

In fact Three charges for all such replies and I just checked with my friend who uses Virgin and there is a similar charge

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Then today something similar but more irritating happened.

I'm buying something at a bargain price and hope the seller is genuine.  But cannot be 100% sure

Sent them the money and after checking from my paypal web screen and also the seller replied that he HAD GOT the money

I started getting text messages from <removed>

Initially I ignored them but they kept coming, every few hours.

Here is an example

<removed>

Since I recently changed my mobile account not to accept any initial charges  and the initial replies failed.

So because I got so annoyed frustrated I had to 

a) goto my three account and allow charges

b) reply to the <removed>message reluctantly

c) go back to three account and stop all charges again

And then would you flippin believe it I get this message back 

SO TO RECAP

- Unless this is some very clever telecom scam from a guy I just paid 65 GBP to

- Paypal APPEARS to continually be sending me <removed> SMS messages asking for reply

- I mean that when I don't answer it sends me another message

- When I finally do reply (which means a charge to my mobile account), then then unhelpfully reply that texting is not supported

WTF  is going on?  PayPal can you respond please.  I am not happy to say the least.    Who if anybody is scamming me?  Is there a polite explanation?

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @marcusbennett,

I'm sorry to hear that there's confusion regarding the text messages that you receive from PayPal.

When there is a transaction that PayPal believes has some potential risk of being unauthorized, you may receive a text message requesting your feedback about the transaction. Replying is optional. If you reply to confirm that the transaction was authorized, that helps the system to know that the activity is normal, which helps the system to identify authorized behavior in your account. If you reply that it is unauthorized, that is one of multiple ways to report that unauthorized activity occurred in your account.

If your phone carrier charges for text messages to short numbers, replying is not something that you would likely want to do. That's perfectly ok. Using the other methods for reporting unauthorized activity is always an option, and not replying in the case of authorized activity is perfectly fine. I'm not sure why you received a second message. That is not typical, and may be due to delivery issues with your carrier.

I hope this information helps!

Olivia

[marcusbennett]

Just in case it is not immediately obvious why the answer from PayPal does 

in no way

answer my concerns I shall try to explain simply

a)  Every phone operator charges for these short number SMS numbers by default

PayPal could choose to use a free service i.e. the reply from a regular SMS number that never charges.

Amazon manages this,  HM Government manages this,  by using a Payable premium SMS number, we will be charged

b) If I choose to answer as it asked me then I expect it to actually work.

As we see,  I answered and then the reply was not accepted

c) If there is an alternative to answering the SMS message then this should be explicitly mentioned in the message

d) If the reply is optional then it should say so

So yes,  I've highlighted 4 issues that the reply did not address

Really not happy.