Some Wiko F100 users find that their phone sends premium SMS without their knowledge. In response to this, the brand began to investigate to try to see more clearly.
A few days ago, Wiko was singled out for an intriguing concern. On Twitter, a user highlighted how his phone automatically sent surcharged SMS to the number 61071. However, by going to the web, he had realized that other Internet users were complaining about the same thing and sharing a common point: they had a Wiko F100 – or an identical model, but stamped by another brand, Logicom. It happens that a factory provides the same model to two different brands which then take care of the distribution.
Wiko customer support had responded to this person, explaining that they were not responsible for the problem and giving some advice. ” As a sign of good faith“, the brand had however agreed to reimburse the amount spent by these surcharged SMS, a little less than 7 euros.
We were able to discuss with Wiko about this. The brand was thus able to exercise its right of reply after our first article and explain the measures it was taking.
A limited number of people concerned according to Wiko
More specifically, we spoke with Raphaël Visseyrias, DG France of Wiko, and Bruno Onésime, head of consumer service and after-sales service. The two men start by saying that the Wiko F100 has sold 130,000 copies and insist that only “some» people among the buyers are affected by these surcharged SMS which are sent by themselves.
As a reminder, the Wiko F100 is afeature phone. It is therefore not a smartphone with many features. The device is quite basic and is sold at a very affordable price in supermarkets. Mr. Visseyrias and Mr. Onésime declare that they have done everything possible to find out as quickly as possible where the problem came from.
The tracks of Wiko
“Our goal is to never leave a problem lying around“says Raphaël Visseyrias. After being alerted, the Wiko teams thus got in touch with those of Logicom to pool their information and in particular realized two things.
First, premium text messages are linked to a Tetris game preinstalled on the phone. After a few demo trials, you have to buy the game in question to take full advantage of it. Problem: the people concerned never had the will to buy this game. Wiko officials initially thought that the problem came from poor handling: the player bought the game without doing it on purpose.
However, it would be quite strange if a small but significant number of people made the same mistake. Thus, Wiko is now trying to find out in which scenario the purchase could potentially be triggered. The French division has also contacted the service provider who supplies this Tetris game and is currently awaiting a response from them.
Then, Bruno Onésime points out that the vast majority of affected users have a Free SIM card and therefore does not exclude the possibility that the concern comes from the operator. In this regard, he recalls that the Free customer area offers an option to block surcharged SMS and invites everyone to activate it.
Whatever, “the phone was not faulty“, according to Wiko. In other words, the concern for premium SMS would come from the game provider or the mobile operator, but not from the phone itself.
What about number 61071?
Wiko still recognizes a “vague» around the number 61071 recipient of surcharged SMS. The brand does not yet know who is behind it.
A tour of the Unknown Number or Signal-Arnaques site shows that this a priori fraudulent number seems mainly to target owners of Wiko F100 or the equivalent Logicom model.
Fraudulent SMS are unfortunately very numerous and target almost everyone, because a large number of people are not sufficiently aware of these dangers. Here are some practical tips…
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