ATT Wireless Cellular Phone Service: Company Fined $105M Over Illegal Charges
AT&T has agreed to pay $105 million fine to the FTC and customers for extra charges unknown to customers.
On Wednesday AT&T agreed to pay the fine for "cramming" charges into customers' bills without telling them what they were charged for, according to CNN Money. Usually $9.99 a month, the charges piled up on customers' bills without their knowing or approval and were made by the third-party companies for horoscopes and trivia games.
AT&T was also accused of keeping 35 percent of fees and preventing customers from demanding refunds. But this victory, the largest cramming settlement in history, happened thanks to the work of the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorney generals from all states and the District of Columbia.
"This case underscores the important fact that basic consumer protections -- including that consumers should not be billed for charges they did not authorize -- are fully applicable in the mobile environment," FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez said.
According to the Wall Street Journal, customers will be refunded $80 million in illegal charges, and the $20 million will go to the states and $5 million to FCC in fines.
The fines were for premium short message services, or PSMS, and were listed as "AT&T Monthly Subscriptions"
"While we had rigorous protections in place to guard consumers against unauthorized billing from these companies, last year we discontinued third-party billing for PSMS services," an AT&T spokesman said. "The settlement gives our customers who believe they were wrongfully billed for PSMS services the ability to get a refund."
If you believe you were illegally charged, you can head over to the FTC's website to file your claim. According to the organization, refunds will not be available to customers for nine months.
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