Betamax (a VoIP company) — a large-scale fraud?

[yksyks]

Since I praised the VoipBuster (one of the Betamax clones) some time ago here, I feel obliged to post an apology and a warning now.

I was quite satisfied with the service until recently. All of a sudden any attempt to make any call ends up with a "General Error (CODE:33) / The other party ended the call due to an unknown error". This happened simultaneously on two accounts. One of them was in use for a some time without any change. The other was okay until I topped it up.

I searched the web for an explanantion and all I was able to find is the result that the Betamax company turned to nothing but a large-scale scam. There are hundreds of affected users of different Betamax clients in quite similar situation. They all have the same experience: there's never any response from Betamax, be it by e-mail, mail or fax.

For details see for example:

http://www.tipsity.c...mp%3B-nonoh-services
http://www.ripoffrep...0&submit2=Search
http://saunderslog.c...ip-accused-of-fraud/

It is still possible that some kind of technical problem is involved, but it seems more and more unlikely. I'd be happy to post an errata here. So, if you're one of the Betamax clone users, my advice is to use your credit while possible, and never top it up again.

I consider the following just a coincidence, but since Friday the Avira antivirus reports VoipBuster.exe as it "Contains a recognition pattern of the (harmful) BDS/Backdoor.Gen back-door program". I think this is just another false positive of Avira, though. I contacted Avira and submitted the file, but so far no response either.

Anyone else here?

EDIT: The VopiBuster forum is inaccessible since this morning. Doesn't add to trustworthiness...

[Innuendo]

And here I clicked on this thread expecting to see some long-overdue and past-its-prime-to-do-any-good complaint about a long-dead videotape format from the '80s.

[yksyks]

You're right, I just changed the topic title to make it clear. Sorry.

[housetier]

It is good you reported it.

I am not a customer, and, as you said, it might still be a technical issue; however, even in case of technical issues the company should return calls and emails by its customers.

[m_jetje]

Hi,
I encountered the same problem! I contacted Avira by phone,  ( costs € 16!! )[ Invalid Attachment ]and they told me that it looks like a false notification. However, I don't dare to use voipbuster anymore, despite the credit I still have. Does anyone have new information here?

[yksyks]

I'm almost sure it's a false positive, VoipBuster was not updated for a while, and it was never reported before. Besides, Jotti and Virustotal reported only two suspicions, one of them was Avira. I'll post here if the situation changes.

But again, this doesn't help with the main trouble, which are all those blocked accounts. So if you still have some credit, use it before it's too late!

[scancode]

I've used FreeCall (another Betamax product) for a couple of months, and haven't had a problem :-/
Good to know tho :-/

(Also, topped up my account using PayPal as I didn't trust Betamax)

[yksyks]

As expected, Avira fixed its false positive recognition of VoipBuster.exe yesterday. However, the problem with blocked accounts remains. If you try to find out what the error code means, you get to this comprehensive explanation:

[yksyks]

The VopiBuster forum is up again, so I performed some research. It's nice that when you search for the word "error", you get the following answer:

The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: error.

Well, indeed.

Anyway, if anyone has similar problem with blocked account, here are two links:

https://forum.voipbu...iewtopic.php?p=50592
https://forum.voipbu...php?f=21&t=14586

I've just posted on the latter my request to unblock my accounts. I'll keep you informed.

[Stargiac]

Listing all known VoIP Betamax errors : (error 33 and others + solutions) [error 1 to 1008]
http://www.gratostel...ror.htm#Error_erreur
[French web site]

[vixay]

I have used VoipCheap FreeCall, VoipDiscount all from these betamaxx dudes.
I (and several friends) lost accounts on VoipCheap & VoipDiscount. Lost credits ranging from $10 - $50 per account. Further cannot create new accounts with those either! For some unknown reason. Same error code i  think 33.

Anway but we've been using FreeCall for a while, with auto-top up and no problems so far. We are using an VOIP Gateway device (Grandstream something) to integrate it with our PABX and use the phone to direct dial. Works great

I am keeping my fingers crossed to hope that it keeps working. I have never been able to contact customer support either. I've always suspected it's a scam as well, considering they have so many clones... and why? What's the need for all these clones? see
http://en.wikipedia....x_%28VoIP_company%29

[yksyks]

When I started this thread my intention was to either post an explanation or to remove the question mark in its heading and replace it with three exclamation marks. It seems the latter is the proper conclusion. So, here it is:

Betamax is nothing but a scam!

On theirs forum there's ever growing number of requests for unblocking the accounts, but not a single response from the Betamax team. Also, there's not a single answer to any mail messages sent to them (except for one read receipt).

Somebody on the froum is going to sue them. In my opinion the trouble is that everybody's time is too precious to lose it in an case lost in advance. Most of people there lost less than €10 which is not worth any legal action. And this is the base of the cheat, I suppose. If they manage to rob a million of users, it's not bad money, is it?

They still accept new victims, calling them "users" or "customers". This should be stopped. All we can do is to tell the world. Which I'm doing.

[yksyks]

Wow! Am I the only one here whose accounts are unblocked suddenly? Or was it a reaction on my previous harsh post (posted on theirs forum, too)?

Anyway, because I lost 78 freedays (that long I had to wait to make a single call), which is a violation of the terms anyway, I don't feel obliged to apologize for my words. Such a behavior is unacceptable and I doubt if I ever top up any of my accounts again.

Anyone else?