FTC Suing T-Mobile For Alleged Hundreds Of Millions In Fraudulent Charges
A complaint has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington by the United States Federal Trade Commission accusing T-Mobile of complacency in allowing third parties to use deceptive practices to put bogus charges on customers' bills. In a practice known as cramming, charges that weren't approved by the customer are placed on bills, usually things like horoscope or lyric services that charge $9.99 month.
Reuters reports that according to Jessica Rich, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, the FTC held settlement talks with T-Mobile but an agreement wasn't able to be reached. The FTC alleges that the company tried to get out of giving refunds, telling customers to instead reach out to the specific vendor. They also claim that T-Mobile used deceptive billing practices with regard to how they listed charges and the overall length and complication of the bill customers received, with reports of up to 50 pages per phone number. The FTC states that T-Mobile has known about the fraudulent practice for years, but done nothing, standing by and collecting from vendors more than a third of the money paid for such services.
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