My invoice from the provider says I’ve purchased third-party or other services from a company I’ve never heard of. What is this?

Premium rate services are services charged via the phone bill from the operator but performed by another company. When the operator charges for a mediated service, the usual call or SMS cost goes to the operator, while the cost of the actual service goes to the company providing the mediated service, the so-called service provider. Often, several different companies are involved in the mediation of a premium rate service.

For example, when purchasing game credits for an online game via SMS, usually three companies are involved: the gaming company, which charges for the game credits through the SMS purchase, a company that handles the technology behind the SMS payment itself, and the operator that charges for sending the SMS. The companies that handle the technology are called service providers. An example of such a company is Boku. The companies that provide the actual content of the service, such as companies selling games or ringtones for mobile phones, are called content providers.

If you have purchased game credits via SMS, hopefully, the gaming company’s name appears on the invoice from your operator, so you understand that the mediated service is a purchase of game credits via SMS. Sometimes the content provider’s name does not appear on the invoice, but the name of the service provider does. It can naturally be confusing to have ordered something from one company, but another company’s name appears on the invoice.

If you do not recognize the company on the invoice, it might be good to consider whether you have ordered something via SMS or otherwise recently. It might also be good to contact your operator and ask if they have any more information about which company or companies have charged you. Also, try contacting the company listed on the invoice; contact details should be on the invoice.