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Thread ID: 50833	2004-11-03 04:20:00	HELP! clearnet is stealing $3054 from me!	bjf4 (6351)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
287399	2004-11-03 04:20:00	My friend has an adsl account with clear, she hardly ever uses it (I keep telling her its a waste of money) because she only checks emails, and for that she does it at uni anyways. Anyhow, they have charged her more than $3000 for usage over 2 months, that she CERTAINLY has not used, thats about 37gig or so over the limit, this girl barely knows how to check email, let alone download anything that could achieve such an amount of usage. I called them and spoke to a tech, and he couldn't believe it either, and he checked over it all and said that according to his system it has been used, and he couldnt really help me and put through to billing, and this guy was a real (excuse the language) *******, I was polite and all, yet he kept laughing at me saying thats its bad luck, the usage us their and now she has to pay for it. They said that it must be a virus?? but I really dont think so considering she hardly ever uses her home pc, and it would have to be on 24/7 to rack up such downloads as the connections are crappy there anyways. What can we do? I think it was direct debitted, is their anyone we can go to? they have taken all of this girls savings, I'm not even sure if she can eat or pay rent or anything now as she is a poor migrant who can hardly speak english, thats why I had to call for her! And also they didn't explain any of the joining terms and conditions to her clearly enough for her to understand, and they only contacted her via email about this extra charge, yet she didn't even know how to check that email account... Maybe I should call that Target t.v show??? anyone have any ideas how we can fight this?	bjf4 (6351)
287400	2004-11-03 04:30:00	The only thing I can think of , which may have caused this, is she has a dialler on her system. Which will dial out to some unknown place overseas somewhere. And you will get a massive bill at the end of the month. I would scan her system with Adaware/Spybot/Hijackthis. To see if any of them pick up any nasty diallers. And remove it/them. All of that $3054, may have nothing to do with the usage. BUT with the dialler, (if there's one in the system), dialling out, all over the place.	Spacemannz (808)
287401	2004-11-03 04:32:00	1) Who else has access to her computer . 2) Is it online 24/7 whether she is using it or not? 3) If the answer to 2 is yes, has it been checked for spyware, viruses and other nasties? 4) Get the answers to these questions then go above the level you have been dealing with at Clear . Don't use words like ******* and don't assume it is their fault, it almost certainly isn't but it could be a billing error . If it is not a billing error then it is not their problem, end of story!! She subscribed for a service and one way or the other she has used it to excess . Unless Clear made a mistake they can't be blamed for expecting payment . You don't get free petrol just because you fill your tank with more gas than you have money for . Try to find out how that has happened then ask them very nicely to consider her financial circumstances . If you feel too angry or upset to do this properly, and she can't speak good enough english to sort it herself, enlist some external assistance . No doubt somebody else will suggest people who might be able to help . Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
287402	2004-11-03 04:34:00	That's pretty intense... Either Clear has made a mistake or someone has obtained her login details somehow. If the money has been direct debitted I doubt you'll be able to get it back unless they have made a mistake. This is the reason I have put off getting ADSL up till now (no excess data charges). No ideas sorry.	HadO (796)
287403	2004-11-03 04:38:00	Good answer Billy. I wonder if one of her friends has been using her machine to download stuff, or as you say has she got a dialler. I make a point of disabling my wireless connection when I am not around, and turning off the modem overnight, and keep a check almost daily on my usage.	theotherone (1421)
287404	2004-11-03 04:53:00	I would look up your accounts/usage section and see whats going on. What kind of plan was she on? Ask them to prove she used that much data.	alphazulusixeightniner (185)
287405	2004-11-03 05:34:00	If the ADSL was on 24/7 then everyone must be aware that they could get these big bills. The reason for this is that the traffic may not have even originated on her PC. It could be a DOS attack on her IP number. Heaps of people scanning for open ports on her IP, etc. While you cant see this happening it is counted as traffic and you will get charged for it if you go over. You need to be always checking your usage. I use TUC to keep an eye on mine and it sits in my tray as an icon.	Big John (551)
287406	2004-11-03 05:35:00	Yep, suspect a dialler dailing 0900, so called, high value numbers, a hack of some kind like a spam relay or some unkind person accessing her machine. The dialler would be the easiest to dispute, some have been blocked by some ISP's, some ISP's have refunded on a moral basis. There should be a log of this activity. They can also rack up big bills in a relatively short time period. A I think you would be out of luck as far as a spam relay or hack goes but, 37GB is a heck of a lot of spam or data of any kind to go through one machine undetected. Someone accessing her PC while her back was turned will be hard to find good evidence for that may be used to recover her money. Logs may prove it has happened but that's not evidence in itself of who. A baited trap could be set, red handed would be best, caution would be required. Cheers Murray P	Murray P (44)
287407	2004-11-03 05:37:00	BTW, you imply that the PC is not connected 24/7, is this correct. Cheers Murray P	Murray P (44)
287408	2004-11-03 06:14:00	You're all talking about diallers?!? She has ADSL! That is, the modem she uses is not even capable of dialling phone numbers. I suspect either attack from remote system, rogue app, or somebody using her computer. Ask the ISP to produce a log showing exactly how that traffic was used, and tell us what that log says. George	george12 (7)
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