From a State Attorney General’s Office media release:<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Tuesday announced that more than 750,000 Washington state Sprint and Verizon customers will be eligible for refunds for unauthorized charges on their cellphone bills as a result of legal action by his office.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The restitution for Washington consumers is part of a nationwide $158 million agreement that resolves allegations that the companies placed unauthorized third-party service charges on subscribers\u2019 telephone bills.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n An estimated 774,900 Washington customers were wrongly charged millions of dollars for unauthorized services. Consumer victims of this practice, called \u201ccramming,\u201d are socked with charges, typically $9.99 per month, for \u201cpremium\u201d text message services (PSMS) \u2014 such as horoscopes, trivia, and sports scores \u2014 that they have never requested or often even heard of.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI will not tolerate deceptive billing practices,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cMy office will hold any company accountable that tries to hide unauthorized charges in the fine print of a consumer\u2019s bill.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Ferguson urged Washington consumers to obtain the refunds they deserve by submitting claims for reimbursement to Verizon and Sprint.\u00a0 (Claims instructions below.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n As the result of the states\u2019 legal action, Verizon and Sprint will pay restitution to consumers around the country in the form of refunds or debt forgiveness. The proportion of the settlement going to Washington consumers depends on their participation rate, so consumers are urged to visit the websites or call the phone numbers listed below promptly.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Verizon and Sprint are the third and fourth mobile phone providers to enter into nationwide agreements to resolve allegations regarding cramming. Ferguson announced similar agreements with AT&T in October of 2014 and T-Mobile in December of 2014. The national mobile cramming settlements, which cover the period July 2010 to June 2015, now total $353 million. All four mobile carriers announced they would cease billing customers for commercial PSMS in the fall of 2013.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The agreements require Verizon and Sprint to stay out of the PSMS business, which law enforcement agencies believe represents the lion\u2019s share of the cramming problem.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The companies must also take steps to ensure they\u2019re only billing customers for charges that have been authorized. These steps include:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Obtaining customers\u2019 express consent before billing for third-party charges, and ensuring consumers are only charged for services if they are informed of all material terms and conditions of their payment;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Providing a full refund or credit to any customer billed for unauthorized third-party charges in the future;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Informing new customers that they can either block third-party charges or choose to use their mobile phone to pay third-party charges;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Presenting third-party charges in a dedicated section of consumers\u2019 mobile phone bills, which clearly distinguishes them from T-Mobile\u2019s charges and contains information about how to block third-party charges.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Washington Attorney General\u2019s Consumer Protection Division worked with the attorneys general of all 49 states and the District of Columbia, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Communications Commission to bring about the agreements.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n In addition to restitution of $70 million and $50 million respectively, Verizon and Sprint will reimburse the attorneys general for costs and fees, as well as pay a settlement to the Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n TO REQUEST A REFUND:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Affected customers can submit claims, find information about refund eligibility, and request a free account summary that details PSMS purchases on their accounts at the websites below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2022 Verizon consumers can submit claims by visiting www.CFPBSettlementVerizon.com<\/a> or calling the claims administrator at (888) 726-7063 (Verizon).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n