These people need to be shut down, fined and arrested. Their operation bills people for long distance calls which seems legal enough but these calls have no concentual basis. A malware dialer program is not a binding contract. The program is dropped into an unsuspecting users pc, disconnects from their normal internet service and reconnects to an international number at an extremely high rate. The international number on my "invoice" is: 44 207 335 84
I have researched this number and found that, as the bill states, it is out of the UK (thus the 44), but more importantly, it is out of London (thus the 207).
I suspect this company is a subsidiary of Premier Communications out of London, which sells dialers. A very interesting thing, however, is that Premier Communications is under the jurisdiction of a UK governing body, subject to fines and legal action. I will return to them briefly.
Premier Premium has a few claims on its website which are blatently false. First, it claims
"It is impossible to have this software dial out without first accepting the disclaimer, and during the entire dialing process the user has the option of disconnecting at no charge."
In fact it is entirely possible.
Second, they claim:
"The user will be disconnected from their internet service provide and a special international number is dialed. During the dialing process the user can clearly hear their modem dialing the number and are able to disconnect at any time during the dialing process."
Again, not true if you have your modem volume low or turned off. When mine dialed I was still connected to my normal internet service as well. The dialer uses a secondary port on the modem.
They also state:
"The user must accept the certified download to install the billing software onto their computer."
If the software was hidden in a malware program then no legal acceptance has taken place. All contracts need to have offer and acceptance. Simply, you have to understand an offer is being made and then you must accept that offer. I am not sure how any lawyer could argue in favor of this company on the basis of their 'agreement'.
A couple of other things to note, the company operates out of two PO boxes. One in NH, the other in TX, with no e-mail address. Also, they state on their "invoice" that "we will not issue any credits or refunds or acknolwedge any billing disputes over the phone." Legitimate companies are willing to at least acknoledge the presence of a billing dispute, if only to refute it.
On a side note, I took the time to look up the two PO box addresses. The Texas one is near the airport in Ft. Worth, the other is a hour north of Boston.
Also, I reported this fraud to the following:
IFCC (FBI)
NHTCU (UK Based crime division)
ICSTIS
Ft. Worth, TX Criminal Investigation Division
Bedford, NH Police Department
USPS
FTC
I suggest that if you are dealing with this group you also contact these authorities.
Now, here's the kicker. These punks have the nerve to operate out of PO boxes. This means that at some point they have to go to those boxes to get their mail, checks, etc. Although it may not be legal I would personally be satisfied to know someone was waiting for them outside these boxes to kick their asses on a daily basis. Just in case you're wondering where those post office boxes are located, they are:
NH PO Box:
Bedford Branch Post Office
25 S River Rd Ste 4,
Bedford, NH 03110
The NH PO Box Number is: 03110
TX PO Box:
Post Office at Amon Carter Blvd,
4400 Amon Carter Blvd Ste 103,
Fort Worth, TX 76155
The TX PO Box Number is: 76155-5579
If anything, simply bring an officer with you and have them arrest whoever opens those boxes if you choose not to kick their ass to hell and back. Whoever is running this scam deserves every bad thing they get. Worse comes to worse, we can start a company, get the names of the employees of Premier Premium and ruin their credit in return. Why not? All we need are names. We could send them a bill in return for what their charging us.
Anyway, I'm not sure how deep you are in all this (i.E. If you've sent them money or not). I just recieved my invoice today. If anything, please report this "company" to the IFCC, USPS and FTC. You can do that online, very easily and very quickly at no cost. If you wish to go further and contact the agencies I've contacted that would be even better. This scammer can only get away with what we allow them to.
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