Hasta La Creative!

In a damning report out today, the Federal Trade Commission charged telecom operator T-Mobile with earning “hundreds of millions” by charging its customers for fraudulent services offered from third parties without authoriziation.

The claim centers around the practice of “cramming,” where wireless carriers turn to third-party companies who provide “premium” SMS services. Consumers are often unknowingly billed for these services, which use deceptive advertising and hidden fee listings, the FTC claimed. For T-Mobile, these included content for flirting tips, horoscope information or celebrity gossip that cost as much as $9.99 a month, the commission said.

T-Mobile knowingly hid these charges from consumers and took roughly 35% to 40% cuts of the amount billed to consumers, according to the FTC suit filed in Seattle. The regulators claimed that number totaled in the “hundreds of millions.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com