T-Mobile USA is being accused of adding millions of dollars of unauthorized charges to customers’ bills, a practice known as “cramming.” The text charges for services like horoscopes and celebrity gossip often cost $9.99 a month, according to a Federal Trade Commission complaint.
The wireless provider received 35 to 40 percent of the amount charged, and in many cases customers were signed up without their knowledge, the FTC said.
The FTC has previously gone after the smaller companies that provide the flirting tips and other services delivered by text but this is its first action against a wireless carrier for cramming. “The FTC’s goal is to ensure that T-Mobile repays all its customers for these crammed charges,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement.
“There were oodles of complaints,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. She said the agency held settlement talks with T-Mobile but did not reach agreement.
Despite the lawsuit, the practice should be coming to an end based on a pact that carriers T-Mobile USA, Verizon, AT&T Mobility and Sprint, under pressure from 45 state attorneys general, agreed to in November to stop billing customers for third-party services.