Feds get tough on cell phone bill cramming
U.S. Accuses Company of Adding Mobile Fees
By EDWARD WYATT, NYT
WASHINGTON — Those surreptitious charges for flirting tips, yoga lessons and psychic services, long a problem on landlines, have become a costly nuisance for mobile phone users — and a new focus for regulators.
In the last two years, regulators have found that hundreds of thousands of mobile phone users have been charged for “premium text” services that they did not authorize, a practice known as bill cramming.
The crackdown has begun. On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced its first cellphone cramming case, accusing a company of taking advantage of consumers by tacking unwarranted charges onto their mobile bills.
In a civil complaint filed in Federal District Court in Atlanta on Tuesday, the F.T.C. charged Wise Media and two of its owners, Brian M. Buckley and Winston J. Deloney, all of the Atlanta area, with unfair or deceptive business practices. A fourth company, Concrete Marketing Research, was charged with receiving funds that could be traced to Wise Media’s actions.
(More here.)
WASHINGTON — Those surreptitious charges for flirting tips, yoga lessons and psychic services, long a problem on landlines, have become a costly nuisance for mobile phone users — and a new focus for regulators.
In the last two years, regulators have found that hundreds of thousands of mobile phone users have been charged for “premium text” services that they did not authorize, a practice known as bill cramming.
The crackdown has begun. On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced its first cellphone cramming case, accusing a company of taking advantage of consumers by tacking unwarranted charges onto their mobile bills.
In a civil complaint filed in Federal District Court in Atlanta on Tuesday, the F.T.C. charged Wise Media and two of its owners, Brian M. Buckley and Winston J. Deloney, all of the Atlanta area, with unfair or deceptive business practices. A fourth company, Concrete Marketing Research, was charged with receiving funds that could be traced to Wise Media’s actions.
(More here.)
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