AT&T and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission today announced AT&T has agreed to pay fines totalling $105 million in order to settle allegations that it profited from cramming.
The FTC alleged AT&T made millions of dollars by allowing third-party companies to fraudulently bill customers for premium SMS and other services. AT&T typically kept 35% of the billed amount each month. AT&T customers who believe they were inappropriately charged for services they did not authorize can seek a refund. A portion of the settlement has been set aside for customer reparations.
“While we had rigorous protections in place to guard consumers against unauthorized billing from [premium SMS] companies, last year we discontinued third-party billing for PSMS services. Today, we reached a broad settlement to resolve claims that some of our wireless customers were billed for charges from third-parties that the customers did not authorize,” said AT&T.
The FTC has made similar allegations against T-Mobile, which vehemently denies the government’s claims.
