Premium-rate numbers
The cost cannot be guessed from the number of digits.
A premium-rate number bills for a service on top of the cost of the communication. In France these are 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 certain fraudulent messages push people to call a number back without stating its price.
In brief
- A premium-rate number bills for the service on top of the communication.
- The price must be announced before the call is charged.
- Receiving an SMS never costs anything, whoever the sender is.
- Calling back an unknown number seen in a text is the reflex to avoid.
The most useful rule is also the most reassuring: in France, receiving an SMS is free. A message you receive cannot be billed to you, even if it comes from a premium-rate number. A cost only appears if you call back, or if you reply to a value-added service that announced it.
That is exactly the mechanism the wangiri, or one-ring, scam exploits: an intriguing message, sometimes just a single-ring call, prompting a callback to a number whose price is stated nowhere. The correct reflex is not to call back, and to report the message to 33700.
The 08 prefixes are associated with these services, but they do not cover every case and an ordinary-looking number can be premium-rated. The reliable method remains not to call back an unknown number that appeared in a message you were not expecting.
Frequently asked questions
Does receiving an SMS from a premium-rate number cost anything?+
No. In France, receiving an SMS is free, whatever the sender's number.
How can I tell whether a number is premium-rated before calling?+
The price must be announced before billing; absent a clear indication, the safest course is not to call back and to report the message to 33700.
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