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Mediated services

In the invoice from my operator, it says that I have purchased mediated (in Swedish "förmedlade") services from a company I have never heard of. What could be the reason for this?

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

For example, when purchasing game credits for an online game via SMS, there are usually three companies involved: the gaming company, which charges for the game credits through the SMS purchase, a company that handles the technology behind the SMS payment, and the operator, which 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 that sell games or ringtones for mobile phones, are called content providers.

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

If you do not recognize the company on the invoice, it may be a good idea to consider whether you have ordered something via SMS or in some other way recently. It may also be a good idea to contact your operator and ask if they have any more information about which company or companies have charged you. Try to contact the company listed on the invoice as well; contact information should be available on the invoice.

If you still do not know why you have been charged for the service, you can make a complaint to us.

Senast uppdaterad 2023-03-22

Frequently asked questions