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Google Chrome Will Soon Warn Users About Web Pages With Unclear Mobile Billing Services (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up-next dept.

Google is introducing a small but important update to its Chrome browser, one designed to prevent consumers from being swindled by underhanded or unclear mobile subscription services. From a report: Some web pages invite visitors to input their mobile phone number in order to subscribe to some kind of service, such as a mobile game, but it's not always clear how much they will be charged or even if that they are being charged at all. This is enabled by a service known as carrier billing, something that allows users to bypass more laborious subscription methods by having a fee charged directly to their mobile phone bill. [...] Starting from December 2018 with the launch of Chrome 71, Google's browser on mobile and desktop, as well as in Android WebView, will display a warning if it detects that there is insufficient mobile subscription information available to the user.

9 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Dang! by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm all for security, but this is getting almost comically fine grained.

    1. Re:Dang! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      I'm all for security, but this is getting almost comically fine grained.

      Phone companies collaborating with sleazy online marketers to add charges to their customers' phone bills without their explicit consent, and the solution is to get sporadic and intrusive warnings about impending transactions from an advertising company.

      What is comical about that?

    2. Re:Dang! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      What's comical is that we're paying to have powerful computers on our desk and in our pockets but that power is being wasted on a war that's been going on between users and marketing departments for over a decade now.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  2. How about ... by PPH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... we just don't allow the common carriers to do billing for third parties. Want to use dial-a-porn? Fine. Call and enter your credit card number. No more of this $5.99/minute charging through the phone company. There are far too many scams (telemarketing) that will never go away until the telecoms are no longer allowed to be silent partners in the deals.

    I'm with Google on this. But I suspect that their motive might be to drive these web services to their own billing platform.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:How about ... by PPH · · Score: 2

      1. Not everyone has a credit card.

      Cash cards are a thing. Just line up at the local speedy mart with the other homeless people and you are good to go.

      2. Credit cards are LESS secure than DCB (direct carrier billing).

      Credit cards are VERY secure. I have a federally mandated right to dispute charges. Cash (debit) cards, less so. But there are regulations covering these as well. I am comfortable with them.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:How about ... by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Informative

      With DCB, you enter your phone number, and then you get a confirmation on your phone, and are then prompted for a PIN.

      Is that how you think it works? Because that's not how it works. As someone who suffered continuous fraud for several months until T-Mobile was persuaded to block these things (which it still couldn't do properly, it decided to block shortcodes too, which means I don't get text notifications from my bank when my credit card is compromised), I can tell you we never had any communication at all between us and the company stealing money from us.

      And two other differences:

      1. Credit card companies can and do pro-actively watch for fraud. We never saw T-Mo do the same thing.
      2. T-Mobile refused to remove the charges directly, telling us we had to work with the company fraudulantly billing us.

      It isn't more secure, it's stupidly insecure, and it should be banned. There's no reason whatsoever for this feature to exist, and if this country had any accountability, the execs who came up with this scheme would be in prison.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  3. Could be worse by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Informative

    My ex got hit by the scam where this company sent her a text message, then because she received the message, they started billing her $9.99/month for the "service" of receiving that text message. Problem is, her account was on autopay and she never even opened her bills, so it wasn't until I looked at her bill 6 months later that she found out. Not sure why that scam wasn't illegal.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  4. Question by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why don't the carriers give me the option of disabling Direct Carrier Billing for my account? In fact, why don't they give me the option of disabling equipment purchase plans? More than once people have order hardware billed to my phone number! (No, I didn't have to actually pay for it, but it took a lot of work on my behalf to fix it.)

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Question by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      Why don't the carriers give me the option of disabling Direct Carrier Billing for my account? In fact, why don't they give me the option of disabling equipment purchase plans? More than once people have order hardware billed to my phone number! (No, I didn't have to actually pay for it, but it took a lot of work on my behalf to fix it.)

      Because they get a cut. And the scummier the company, the larger the cut. Heck, it can be huge, like 90% of what you paid goes to the carrier.

      And for that, they don't have to do anything - customers are forced to deal with the scummy company, there's no such thing as blocked charges, etc.

      It completely benefits the carrier to allow it, completely screws over the customer.

      The only way to get any of that sort of crap fixed is legislation, because right now it's tilted too much in the carrier's favor for them to do anything about it.