'Cramming' is costing unwitting cellphone users

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — Most people ignore spam text messages on their cellphones. That's exactly what one AT&T customer did, and he was charged for a service he never approved.

"Most of our bills that can be auto-billed just come out of our bank account or onto our credit card," AT&T customer Travis Mayfield said Thursday.

He said he never looks through his paper bills, but his husband did last week and found an odd charge.

"An extra $10.94, and we were just shocked," Mayfield said. "It said in the notation that it was a 'Horoscopegenie Alert.'"

After thinking about what the charge could be from, they discovered it came from a text message - one they ignored several weeks ago.

"We didn't reply and tell them that we didn't want it, so they just started billing us," Mayfield said.

Eyewitness News discovered the process is called third-party billing, or "cramming." A spokesman with AT&T said the company has what they call billing aggregators, companies they allow to bill over the AT&T platform.

AT&T tips to avoid unauthorized cellphone charges, called "cramming" >>

AT&T said it doesn't give out phone numbers to the companies, as that is against its privacy policy. The spokesman said of all the contracts AT&T has with aggregators, only 1 percent are fraudulent. He added that when AT&T has frequent complaints about the company, it will notify that company that AT&T will no longer do business with it due to its fraudulent practices.

AT&T said if customers call to dispute the bill, the charges will be removed promptly. And, that's what happened with Mayfield.

"I'm really angry that our phone company would allow someone to bill us without us actually saying 'yes' to something," Mayfield said.

He said his story is something he and others can learn from.

"It is worth it to open that bill and check it for charges you didn't sign up for, and then call the company and have them take it off your bill if you find it there. It could ultimately save you, honestly, hundreds of dollars if you aren't more careful," Mayfield said.

The U.S. Senate Committee investigated landline cramming earlier this year. It found that during the past five years, phone companies billed more than $10 billion in third-party charges. Since that finding, phone companies have promised to end this practice on landlines. Nothing has been mentioned about cellphones.