The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday filed a complaint alleging that T-Mobile US (TMUS) failed to remove unauthorized charges on its customers’ phone bills.
The charges stem from text-message scams that send content like celebrity gossip to mobile devices. According to the complaint, T-Mobile received 35% to 40% of the total amount charged to users for the subscription, which costs $9.99 a month.
T-Mobile continued to bill customers for those services years after becoming aware of the fraudulent charges, the FTC said. The nation’s fourth-largest wireless carrier received a high number of consumer complaints as early as 2012.
Third-party billing, a process that allows phone companies to bill customers for services offered by another company, has been used to initiate charges without a customer’s knowledge. The practice is known as mobile cramming.
The FTC filed lawsuits against several companies accused of mobile cramming in the last year. T-Mobile allegedly billed its subscribers for services from those same companies, as well as another firm that was sued by the Texas Attorney General.
Tuesday’s complaint also accuses T-Mobile of making it difficult for customers to see the charges were initiated by a third party. In some cases, the company either refused refunds or offered partial refunds, the FTC added.
The regulator is seeking a court order to obtain refunds for customers and force T-Mobile to turn over the proceeds it received from the scams.
A T-Mobile spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares were unchanged at $33.62 in recent trading.
Follow Matthew Rocco on Twitter @MatthewRocco
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