December 19, 2014

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced that the California Department of Justice, along with the Attorneys General of the other 49 States and the District of Columbia, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission, reached settlements with T-Mobile USA, Inc. to resolve allegations that T-Mobile placed charges for third-party services on consumers’ mobile telephone bills that were not authorized by the consumer, a practice known as “mobile cramming.” The settlement terms require that T-Mobile pay at least $90M. Consumers who have been “crammed” often complain about charges, typically $9.99 per month, for “premium” text message subscription services (also known as “PSMS” subscriptions) such as horoscopes, trivia, and sports scores, that the consumers have never heard of or requested. T-Mobile is the second mobile telephone provider to enter into a nationwide settlement to resolve allegations regarding cramming. AT&T agreed to pay $105M to settle similar charges in October. CA