Third Party Billing Firm Warns Consumers About Modem Hijacking
Monday December 13,7:14 pm ET
Company offers tips for preventing spyware, 'drive-by downloads' and other malicious software practices
BEDFORD, N.H., Dec. 13 / PRNewswire / — A Bedford, N.H. Company that processes the billing on behalf of a number of UK pay-per-view websites is warning consumers who use these and other sites to be sure they are not falling prey to spyware, "drive-by downloads" and modem hijackers.
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Premier Premium Communication provides the billing for a number of pay - per-view websites and is not related to "modem hijacking, " or other unscrupulous web practices, company officials said Monday. The company provides only the billing for the UK sites.
Premier is advising computer users to take a number of preventive steps such as installing all Microsoft updates and take advantage of free downloads offered by the industry such as anti-spyware and anti-spam scanners. A comprehensive list of tips for consumers offered by Premium is available on the following link at (URL removed by usacomplaints.com).
Recently, consumers in a number of states who have received bills from Premium say they were victims of modem hijacking. The company is processing each billing dispute to determine which requests are from victims of modem hijacking and will receive a credit or in some cases a refund. Credit requests for billing disputes are preferred by postal mail.
Premier Premium Communication is owned by an investor group in New Hampshire that also owns National One Telecom and One Web Direct. The company sends out about 15,000 invoices a week for their client, a UK company that manages a number of pay-per-view websites. Of those, about 4 percent are contested, below the average for the industry. The UK websites, which are neither clients of nor under the control of the N.H. Billing company, provide gaming, sports information, entertainment and similar services via the web.
Consumers who use these websites also incur an international long distance charge from their phone carrier, which is separate from Premier's billing.
Modem hijacking occurs when a unscrupulous web site operator attaches special hijacking software that bypasses the required price disclaimers on the dialup billing software. It is illegal. Premiere Premium is not responsible for or connected in any way to this activity.
Source: Premier Premium Communication
This is a lame attempt at damage control by these crooks. At least it appears that they are feeling some heat over this scam.
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