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Up to 5,000 consumers a month are being hit by a scam involving premium rate diallers being covertly downloaded to their PC from activities as innocuous as clicking a pop-up ad or opening an email.
The unprecedented level of the crisis has led to worries that outside regulation could lead to the use of diallers being banned altogether.
Although diallers - which disconnect from a consumer's normal Internet connection to re-dial a premium number to bill for a service - are most heavily used in the adult industry, they're also employed by mainstream content providers like sport and music download services.
Premium rate regulator Icstis said it's receiving over 5,000 calls a month related to the problem. These Trojan diallers are sent to users behind emails and as attachments, and are activated by actions such as clicking on a pop-up ad.
'Other European countries have banned diallers outright,' said Icstis spokesman Rob Dwight. 'This fraud has to stop.'
Icstis is in discussions with both the Government and police on tackling the issue, as well as all the ISPs.
'A lot of consumer education needs to take place on how premium rate services work online, so we're in talks with everyone from AOL to Wanadoo,' said Dwight.
Icstis is working closely with the telco networks that play a crucial role in the billing of these services.
At Carphone Warehouse-owned Opal Telecom, head of premium rate services Tony Couch said, 'Everyone needs to take responsibility, from the telcos to the service providers, and we need to act before outside regulation is forced.'
The unprecedented level of the crisis has led to worries that outside regulation could lead to the use of diallers being banned altogether.
Although diallers - which disconnect from a consumer's normal Internet connection to re-dial a premium number to bill for a service - are most heavily used in the adult industry, they're also employed by mainstream content providers like sport and music download services.
Premium rate regulator Icstis said it's receiving over 5,000 calls a month related to the problem. These Trojan diallers are sent to users behind emails and as attachments, and are activated by actions such as clicking on a pop-up ad.
'Other European countries have banned diallers outright,' said Icstis spokesman Rob Dwight. 'This fraud has to stop.'
Icstis is in discussions with both the Government and police on tackling the issue, as well as all the ISPs.
'A lot of consumer education needs to take place on how premium rate services work online, so we're in talks with everyone from AOL to Wanadoo,' said Dwight.
Icstis is working closely with the telco networks that play a crucial role in the billing of these services.
At Carphone Warehouse-owned Opal Telecom, head of premium rate services Tony Couch said, 'Everyone needs to take responsibility, from the telcos to the service providers, and we need to act before outside regulation is forced.'
