Stuyvenstein
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2012
- Messages
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Hi people.
I got a new phone around 3 weeks ago, and when I inserted my existing sim card into the new phone, I started getting USSD popups for subscribing to WASP services. These popups are pushed by Vodacom themselves. (My phone did give me a notification that it needs to reboot to apply network settings, which I did, and my guess is that this triggered something on Vodacom's side that opted me in to USSD popups)
The popups contain a USSD number you can dial to opt-out (*135*181#), but I did not opt-in to begin with. Inserting my sim card into another device should not cause an automatic opt-in.
Opting out of all their different communications via USSD is also a helluva chore since you need to repeat the process for every category, and enter your birth date every time you do it.
I eventully installed the app, and it turns out you can opt-out via the app too. A much less tedious process.
This is a very sneaky tactic by Vodacom, and I don't know much about legality regarding such topics, but I definitely feel like this should be illegal, especially considering that these popups appear on your lock screen, so if you accidentally butt-press the Ok button, then you get subscribed to a WASP services. WTF Vodacom?
I figured I'd post this all here, along with some screenshots, so people can be made aware of Vodacom's devilish scam tricks, and also help people disable this rubbish.
The popups:
Disabling them in the Vodacom app (Turn off the USSD ones and save):
EDIT: It seems the above solution does not work.
I have disabled all forms of communication across all topics within the Vodacom app, and I received yet another USSD popup today, as seen below:
I now used the USSD number option, and went through each category selecting the opt-out option, so I'll see if this works, and whether it is permanent.
But I would think that opting out on the app only should be sufficient to stop all communication, you shouldn't have to opt-out on 2 fronts to stop communication from the same company.
They are likely making it a tedious process intentionally, to reduce the probability of someone actually opting out of everything successfully.
This is how security works with technology - Everyrthing is hackable, some systems are just so tedious or time consuming to hack, that it eventually deters the attacker. It looks like Vodacom employs the same tactic to try and keep you opted in to their nonsense communications.
Bad boy Vodacom...
I got a new phone around 3 weeks ago, and when I inserted my existing sim card into the new phone, I started getting USSD popups for subscribing to WASP services. These popups are pushed by Vodacom themselves. (My phone did give me a notification that it needs to reboot to apply network settings, which I did, and my guess is that this triggered something on Vodacom's side that opted me in to USSD popups)
The popups contain a USSD number you can dial to opt-out (*135*181#), but I did not opt-in to begin with. Inserting my sim card into another device should not cause an automatic opt-in.
Opting out of all their different communications via USSD is also a helluva chore since you need to repeat the process for every category, and enter your birth date every time you do it.
I eventully installed the app, and it turns out you can opt-out via the app too. A much less tedious process.
This is a very sneaky tactic by Vodacom, and I don't know much about legality regarding such topics, but I definitely feel like this should be illegal, especially considering that these popups appear on your lock screen, so if you accidentally butt-press the Ok button, then you get subscribed to a WASP services. WTF Vodacom?
I figured I'd post this all here, along with some screenshots, so people can be made aware of Vodacom's devilish scam tricks, and also help people disable this rubbish.
The popups:
Disabling them in the Vodacom app (Turn off the USSD ones and save):
EDIT: It seems the above solution does not work.
I have disabled all forms of communication across all topics within the Vodacom app, and I received yet another USSD popup today, as seen below:
I now used the USSD number option, and went through each category selecting the opt-out option, so I'll see if this works, and whether it is permanent.
But I would think that opting out on the app only should be sufficient to stop all communication, you shouldn't have to opt-out on 2 fronts to stop communication from the same company.
They are likely making it a tedious process intentionally, to reduce the probability of someone actually opting out of everything successfully.
This is how security works with technology - Everyrthing is hackable, some systems are just so tedious or time consuming to hack, that it eventually deters the attacker. It looks like Vodacom employs the same tactic to try and keep you opted in to their nonsense communications.
Bad boy Vodacom...
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