[Bovar]

I was charged £26.90 + vat on my recent virgin media bill for a premium rate phone call that I did not make. The number provides an 'adult service'.

I put the offending number into a Google search, and found recent reports that 3 other people had been similarly charged for a call to the same number that they claim not to have made. Two more examples along the same lines have been added this morning.

Six reports (including mine) on the internet probably mean that many more people have suffered this error. What is going on?

I rang customer services yesterday, and after a little negotiation, including the knowledge that I knew others to be affected, was told that my direct debit would be altered to remove this charge. Not all of the internet reporters have had the same sympathetic response.

Is this an accounting/network fault? Is it a scam that has resulted from a breach of the telephone network?

I am a retired person, and no kids have unrestricted access to my premises, particularly at 1.15 on a Monday.

I have no record of making premium rate 0908 phone calls on my telephone account, which is possibly why I received a sympathetic hearing from customer services.
If any customer has a similar £26.90 unexplained item on their bill, they will find a single site reporting the complaints by googling just the phone number concerned. I am avoiding giving the number here to limit the opportunity of other silly people adding unwanted comments to the site. Given the very specific search query, it is not very likely that many people will find the site by accident.

I am not the sort who posts to messageboards very often. I am concerned that it may be possible for customers to be billed for these calls mistakenly. How could this happen?