I’ve been charged for a third-party service I don’t recognise – what should I do?

If there is a charge for one or more mediated services on the invoice from the telecom operator, it means that someone who used the landline or mobile phone has in some way ordered one or more premium telecommunication services.

There is a large number of premium telecommunication services of various kinds. Some examples of common premium telecommunication services are voting in TV programs like Melodifestivalen via phone calls or SMS, buying a bus ticket via SMS, or entertainment services for mobile phones such as games or ringtones. Such services can be ordered in several ways.

Ordering can be done by making a premium call to a number with one of the prefixes 099, 0900, 0939, or 0944. Ordering can also be done by sending an SMS to a so-called short number for premium services via SMS, these short numbers have five digits and start with 72 (72xxx). Ordering can also be done via the internet on the mobile phone, by clicking on a number of links on a company’s website or advertisement and thereby accepting the terms for the service mediated via the above-mentioned short numbers.

Many premium telecommunication services are marketed on the internet, but as far as we know, a premium telecommunication service cannot be started without someone actively ordering or approving an order via the mobile phone. For example, it should not be possible to start a premium telecommunication service by entering someone else’s mobile number on a website where such a service is marketed. Rules for how the ordering of premium telecommunication services should be conducted are found in the Code of Conduct developed by the operators, the Ethical Council for Premium Telecommunication Services, and the industry organization MORGAN.

If you do not know what service you have been charged for, a good first step is to contact your operator and request a call specification. On the call specification, you can see when premium calls were made or premium SMS were sent.
On the invoice from the operator, according to rules decided by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, there should be contact information for the company responsible for a mediated service.

If you have tried to contact a company without result, or if you have been in contact with a company but are not satisfied with the answers you received, you can make a complaint to us. Then we can contact the company and help you sort out what has happened in the case.