UK premium rate phone service regulator PhonepayPlus has fined a Russian company for serious breaches of its code of conduct, reports the BBC.

Connect Limited – trading as SMSBill – has been fined £50,000 for creating an Android app that once installed, sends a text message to a premium-rate number which then charges the phone owner £10 for an automated response.

PhonepayPlus took the action following complaints from the public and said all affected customers must be refunded within the next three months. "Complainants raised a number of concerns, including lack of pricing information and charging without consent," it said.

The app, which is meant to provide access to games, said on the sixth page of its terms and conditions shown after the app has been downloaded, that charges “of about £5” would result from downloading it.

Connect Limited must now submit any proposals for new premium-rate services before being launched in the UK. If the company fails to do this, PhonepayPlus could impose a larger fine or ban it from operating in the UK market for up to five years.