Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative correspondent for CBS News, in “Ringing Up Big Charges For “Free” Tones: Charges For Unordered, Unwanted Services Popping Up On Cell Phone Bills — And They Can Be Tough To Stop” examined how replying to a text message or even browsing a Web site can unleash a flury of phone-bill charges for unordered and unwanted services, also known as “cramming.”
According to the article, one such victim received a text message advertisement (i.e., spam) out of the blue that said, “you’ve qualified for a free ringtone,” and they sent it to her three times. Of course, she was a minor so she asked her Mom for permission, but her mother wisely told her no. She never asked for the initial text message (i.e., she never opted in) and never “double opted-in.” Instead, she replied to the text message with the words “no,” as in no thank you, not interested. etc.
Turns out a charge for $19.99 showed up on her phone bill the next month and when her mom tried to get it removed, the cellular telephone company told her it was a monthly subscription and that it couldn’t be stopped.
According to the article, last year the FCC ordered millions of dollars returned to angry cell phone customers who said they were scammed and crammed by their cell phone carriers, cell phone billing aggregators and mobile content providers, all of whom get a cut of the revenue from these unauthorized cell phone charges.
If you were charged on your cell phone bill for mobile or wireless content subscriptions (i.e., for ringtones, premium text messaging services, ring tones, joke a day programs, wallpaper, screensavers, text alerts, etc.) that you never ordered, authorized or wanted, tell us your story.