Premium-rate numbers
The cost is not read from the number of digits.
A premium-rate number bills a service on top of the price of the communication. In France, these numbers fall under value-added services and their price must be announced to the consumer before any commitment. The trap lies less in the principle than in the way some fraudulent messages push you to call back a number without stating its price.
In summary
- A premium-rate number bills the service on top of the communication.
- The price must be announced before the call is billed.
- Receiving an SMS never costs anything, whatever the sender.
- Calling back an unknown number seen in an SMS is the reflex to ban.
The most useful rule is also the most reassuring: in France, receiving an SMS is free. An incoming message can never be billed to you, even when it comes from a premium-rate number. The cost only appears if you call back, or if you reply to a value-added service that has announced it.
This is exactly the mechanism exploited by the so-called call-back scam: an intriguing message, sometimes a simple one-ring call, pushes you to call back a number whose price is mentioned nowhere. The right reaction is not to call back and to report the message to 33700.
The 08 prefixes are linked to these services, but they do not cover every case and an ordinary-looking number may turn out to be premium-rate. The safe method remains never to call back an unknown number that turns up in a message you were not expecting.
Commonly asked questions
Q01Is there a charge for receiving an SMS from a premium-rate number?
No. In France, receiving an SMS costs nothing, no matter the sender's number.
Q02How can I tell if a number is premium-rate before calling?
The price must be announced before billing; failing a clear indication, the most prudent choice is not to call back and to report the message to 33700.
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