Paid subscription warnings

Paid subscriptions are one way to pay for online services. For instance, you can use a paid subscription to set up an answering service on your cell phone or sign up for weather forecasts sent by SMS on a weekly basis. To subscribe, you simply follow a link to your mobile service provider's page and tap a button to confirm. Some content providers abuse simple subscription setups and sign users up for services they don’t know they’re paying for.

Although mobile subscription pages are hosted on the websites of mobile network operators, their content is determined by outside content providers. Some of these content providers deliberately conceal information about paid services. For example, the payment button might be labeled Play or Login and the message informing you that this is a paid service may be written in small letters or hidden beyond the visible part of the screen. By pressing just one button on one of these sites, you might initiate daily withdrawals from your mobile balance.