Look out for txt 73288

[Johnecen]

I just received my bill and saw three "Premium texts" charges.  Since we don't ever send numbered texts (like to vote on Idol), I called customer service and they said that there was nothing that they could do since it was from a third party.  Wasn't it charged on a Verizon bill???  So, I checked on line and found out that it's a scam.  You receive a text from 73288 and when you click on it to see it, you are automatically charged $9.99!  My question is this:  I found out about the scam in 30 seconds, Verizon won't take off the charges, why aren't they blocking the texts for all of their customers?  I'm sure that I'm not the only one who called about it, so they know about it.  Why aren't they telling us?  What a rip-off...

[LisaAA]

You can text back to that, or any short message code, "stop", "quit", "cancel" or "unsubscribe". Once you have cancelled your subscription to the 3rd party service, you can place a block on premium sms on my verizon> my services> verizon safeguards> parental controls. Or you can call customer service and ask to have a block placed on premium text messages. Be very careful about putting your mobile number into those funny little boxes online on your computer. Those funny little boxes sign you up for their 3rd party service. Hope that helps. I have had them on my line, my daughter's line and my husbands line. I blocked all of our lines on my verizon and we no longer get charged.

[sierrajinx9]

Go to your ACCOUNT and put 73288 into the BLOCK PHONE NUMBER Section, you can block up to 5

[acraftylady]

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sierrajinx9 wrote:

Go to your ACCOUNT and put 73288 into the BLOCK PHONE NUMBER Section, you can block up to 5

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You can't put that number in for a block as it's not 10 digits, thought blocked numbers had to be 10 digits.    Also once you go to parental controls then where do you go to place the block for premium messaging?  I am not seeing what to do.    Mary

[SuzyQ]

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acraftylady wrote:

 Also once you go to parental controls then where do you go to place the block for premium messaging?  I am not seeing what to do.    Mary

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Under Usage controls, there is a list of service blocks - and a link to add/remove blocks for each line on the family plan.

[LeonardM]

To Block Premium Text Messaging as SuzyQ suggested you can navigate to it directly from:

http://www.vzw.com/usagecontols

or you can sign in to My Verizon and navigate to it at:

My Verizon > My Services (Tab) > Verizon Safeguards (Menu Item at left) > Parental Controls (Menu Item at left) > Usage Controls (Tab)

Then scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on the Add/Delete Service Blocks.

One of the Service Blocks is to Block Premium Messaging to avoid those suprise charges.

Another option is to put on content filters at http://www.vzw.com/contentfilters as you can keep your phone limited to safe age-appropriate messages via the Premium Messaging, which includes avoiding scams.

[acraftylady]

I found it now, had to be logged into the main account then picked my number and set it.  Mary

[jasonneo99]

if you go to this website you can cancel the "subscription"

http://www.generaltexting.com/cancel.php