New legislation has been introduced by the Government to tackle text and phone scams. The legislation will regulate operators who offer premium rate services such as ring tones, competition text lines, and sports results and will be welcome news to phone users in Mayo who have been scammed in the past by the exorbitant rates charged by some companies.
A bill to regulate the premium rate telecommunications sector in Ireland was introduced by the Government this week and has been welcomed by Labour Affairs Minister Dara Calleary.
“The Bill being introduced by the Government will put a strong consumer protection regime into place in relation to premium rate services such as ring tones for phones, text messages for sports results or traffic news, competitions, and chat lines,” Minister Calleary said.
“The area has been self regulated to date, but that has not proved satisfactory. Too many people have found themselves out of pocket because they did not realise charges involved with such services.”
