Beware of Texts from 2346!

2346.  I am not talking about lucky numbers for tonight’s 100+ million peso lotto draw, but I am talking about four numbers to be very cautious about.

I could not recall when or where exactly it happened.  But just recently, I may have had made the mistake of replying to one of those unsolicited text messages that are randomly sent through my current provider, Globe Telecom.  I started receiving these daily (spam) updates on ringtones and ringback tunes, which, admittedly, I am sometimes curious about.

What I did not know the whole time was, I was being charged for it.  And it came as a somewhat big surprise when my phone bill came in early this month.  I was being billed an extra 300 pesos for all these updates — plus MMS messages I did not even get to receive, open, or read.  I say this because I use an

iPhone, and this phone does not support mms messaging.  There was no clear indication from the beginning or from every message I received that I would be billed for each message.

Of course, I called Globe’s Customer Service to get an explanation, and was told that the service was not theirs, but was being sent by a third party provider.  Globe offered to perform the unsubscription for me, and had promised to give me feedback about it.

Well, I did not receive any feedback.  But today, two days after I made my call to Globe, I still received a message from 2346.

What I find very infuriating about this third party provider is that when they send you all these updates, there is NO mention at all as to how to unsubscribe.  Nada.  Nil.  This is unlike Globe’s own updates (e.g. 2977), which tells you how to unsubscribe if you don’t wish to receive certain updates from them.  We get to see this with e-mails too.  A person should be easily able to unsubscribe with a click.

Since I did not have the luxury of time to make another call to Globe, I guessed the code to unsubscribe.  All it took was to key in STOP as a reply.

For now, I don’t blame Globe for this, although I do wish that they would set stricter standards to providers who wish to use their network to send messages.  After all, I will need to pay for the spam through globe.  Goodness, I can’t believe that I am being billed for spam.  So of course, I do feel cheated by the third party provider.  A look at archived messages from 2346 refers mobile phone users to sites such as dloadstation.com and mp3tone.ph.  The strange thing about these two websites is that they are currently not accessible via pc or laptop.  I smell something fishy.

A random search on google just now has also shown that many other subscribers are complaining about 2346.

I now understand all the more where Speaker Prospero Nograles is coming from.  As a Congress Correspondent, Nograles filed a resolution calling for the investigation of these unsolicited text and mms messages.  This kind of messaging by third party providers and the way consumers are being deceived by it is not fair.

You all may want to double check your phones and see if you are subscribed to other providers.

22 Replies to “Beware of Texts from 2346!”

  1. It is time to lobby congress or at the very least let telecom regulator (NTC) be aware that service providers can and should provide safeguards againts these SMS/MMS spam. This technology is called Anti-SMS Spamming/Anti-Message Flooding and Screening.

    Currently, I believe most telecom operators have the whitelist/blacklist features in their systems but encouraging subscribers to susbcribe to these features will decrease their revenues
    (siempre umwanted or welcome calls or SMS are still generating income for them)

    In countries like Singapore (the fine country – kasi people are heavily fined for rule violations), it is mandated that telecom companies implement this safeguard for their subscribers.

  2. Everytime na nagload ako ay kasabay magsend sa akin ang 2346 nga kahit ano hanggang nauubos ang load. First load ako Php15.00 tapos bigla na lang nawala after receiving a message from 2346 na hindi naman ako nagsubscribe. The second time na nagload ako sa globe Php15.00 same pa rin nangyayari bigla na lang nawala. Ngayon ay nagload ako ng Php50.00 gagamitin ko sana kasi may tatawagan ako aba ang daming message na-receive ko galing sa 2346 hanggang naubos ang Php50.00 load ko. Grabe naman. Pag ubos na load mo wala ng message from 2346 pero pag may load ka lahat ng message galing sa 2346 papasok sayo hanggang wala na ang load. Hays. Tulong naman grabe na to.

  3. Gen Mckoy, type STOP and send to 2346. Send it twice to be sure. And keep the reply message as documented proof that 2346 should have stopped eating your load. If the deduction continues, then you have a case.

  4. I just happened to see a billing statement of my mother-in-law regarding her g-flex plan 800 and I found out that she has been charged a total amount of 642.84 php, all came from 2346 messages alone. I’m just glad we were able to find this blog, and see if sending STOP to 2346 works.

  5. I am a victim. I dont remember naka-subscribe ako sa 2346 na yan. Super sacrifice ako kase 15 pesos na last money ko kinain pa nila…

    I went to globe to complain.. pina-deactivate na nila so.. wala na.

    Punta nalang kayo sa globe para magcomplain..

  6. You are being too damn nice. These people are criminals and so are Globe management. If Globe isn’t cheating the Philippine people out of their minutes, they are certainly collecting money for the use of their network. They know damn well what is going on and they know damn well who the cowardly piece of dog crap is that is ripping everyone off with this OPM music scam. Don’t make excuses for Globe. That is what they want you to do, so they can continue making money off rip-off artist like this jerk. Send Globe a strong message. Call Globe from a land line and complain to whoever will listen. Send them tons of email complaints. Send them tons of letters. Send them to the billing department and see how they like wasting their time on Spam. Leave negative feedback on and about their website and company. Cut way back on using Globe phones. Maybe, just may, Globe with get the message and give us the name of this cowardly thief, so we can drag them into the woods and slowly roast them over an open fire. Maybe get Globe management too. After all, aren’t they sending this clown the checks?

  7. Hey, I had a same problem too. It has been just effing irritating. I sent OFF ALL to 2346. It seems like it worked, so far.

  8. thanks alot. First, i texted STOP to 2346, then it gave me instruction to send OFF ALL to unsubscribe from all services. there it is. Im free at last from this spam.

  9. after sending a message “stop lovesongs” and “stop hotgames” still nacharge pa rin ako for 10 pesos. i tried stop, stop alert at stop all. they sent me a confirmation that i’m not subscribe to any of their services. sana mag work 🙁

  10. Beware replying also from 8888 GRAB-A-GOLD and 2474. If ever namakareceive kayo from this number. Reply lang kyo ng CHECK para malaman nyo kung nakasubscribed kayo. Also tawag kayo sa 730-1000 customer service yan ng Globe to inquire other subscription you may not be aware of. Be safe everyone.

  11. hey man! thanks for this blog post. i felt a little better knowing that there’s someone else out there not willing to bow down to the scammers’ fucking games. i too was stupid enough to send them a reply because of my curiosity. it went on for a week! though, unlike you, i have to rely on prepaid load since i can’t afford postpaid plans. everyday, i pay for load that is easily stolen by this third party providers. i was thinking of changing numbers and throwing my old sim away so they can screw it all they want and get nothing. but i read your blog and saw how you were able to unsubscribe (which was supposedly obvious, but i was too angry too think rationally). i had just tried your way and is currently waiting for a text or an update if i am really unsubscribed. if not, it’s back to throwing nasty words and throwing sims.

  12. Thanks for this post. My mom’s Globe prepaid sim hardly gets “loaded” because of 2346 for a few months up til now because of this. She can’t remember how this happened until she received a text message from 2346 today. Replying with “STOP” will not work since you will receive a message from them (again) that you need to send “STOP ” or “STOP ALL.” I educated her after about the dirty tricks coming from these stupid operators taking advantage of uninformed people.

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