Search engines are 'distributing rip-off phone rates' 

Tuesday, March 08 2011 by John Burns

The UK national regulator for premium rate services has warned consumers using search engines such as Google to find phone numbers for companies should always check returned results carefully before dialling.

PhonepayPlus asserted that in recent weeks, a number of websites have been detected using search engine optimisation providers to offer numbers for services ranging from government contacts to customer service lines for retailers on the high street.

However, these numbers provided are often at a premium rate, costing consumers up to £1.53 a minute when the information is often free elsewhere.

Search engine marketing is therefore helping these websites climb to high positions in sponsored links and will often be the most obvious site to visit to the more untrained eye.

PhonepayPlus has since issued warnings to two companies, AT Telecom Ltd and Customer Service Helplines (UK) Ltd, as well as £50,000 fines for misleading people and failing to make the price of these premium rate numbers clear to consumers.

Following the publication of the full adjudication on the PhonepayPlus website, Paul Whiteing, the chief executive of the organisation, admonished this website promotion tactic and argued that the watchdog is serious about clamping down these websites that mislead consumers.

"We have already worked with Directgov to forward a number of sites to Google and Bing when these sites use premium rate numbers for information available for free from the government, and we continue to look for ways to work with search engine providers to stop activity that causes consumer harm," he continued.

"Before calling any number, consumers should look carefully at the numbers that any websites provide and remember that premium rate numbers generally begin with 09 prefix."

Ofcom has responsibility for the regulation of premium rate services but in December 2007, PhonepayPlus was confirmed as the acting agency that carries out day-to-day regulation of the market on the watchdog's behalf.