FCC says AT&T has to pay

The FCC’s enforcement bureau has announced that it reached a settlement with AT&T over a recent directory assisence service scam that affected their customers.

AT&T will pay $7.75 million! Broken down, it looks like this:

AT&T will  issue full refunds to all current and former customers who received unauthorized third-party charges from January 2012 onwards. The refunds are expected to total $6.8 million, and AT&T will also pay a $950,000 fine to the U.S. Treasury.

The scam was uncovered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration while investigating two Cleveland-area companies Discount Directory, Inc. (DDI) and Enhanced Telecommunications Services (ETS) for drug-related crimes and money laundering. During the investigation, DEA officials discovered financial documents related to the scam that primarily targeted small businesses.

Neither DDI, ETS, nor AT&T could show that any of AT&T’s customers agreed to be billed for the shady directory assistance service. Phone companies like AT&T have a responsibility to ensure third-party charges are legitimate and were approved by the consumer.

Were you targeted by the scam?