Jobseekers are being urged to exercise caution after PhonepayPlus, the premium rate telephone services regulator, issued a £50,000 fine to a recruitment service for misleading customers into subscribing to expensive mobile content.

Playphone Europe was also ordered to refund vulnerable jobseekers who were left out of pocket after unwittingly signing-up for expensive mobile subscription services the company was promoting on a number of websites, including “workjobs.net”. The one most commonly subscribed to cost jobseekers £4.50 a week.

One complainant visited workjobs.net looking for a delivery job only to find when he signed up to receive information about jobs he also unknowingly subscribed to premium rate services, including quizzes and ringtones. “I was asked to enter my mobile number and then send ‘yes’, so I did, thinking it was for a job application,” the victim said. “I am not a teenager and did not request a ringtone.”

PhonepayPlus’s Bradley Brady said: “We’ve recently seen instances where jobseekers are being misled by a small minority of providers on the charges for using premium rate recruitment services. We understand how difficult the job market is right now and we have taken tough action where we have seen a lack of pricing transparency by providers, particularly as jobseekers are facing a challenging job market as a result of the recession.”

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