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Last updated on Wednesday, May 13, 2015
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Thousands of Hoosiers are eligible for refunds after two major cellphone providers agreed to pay customers back for “mobile cramming.”
Cramming is when cellphone companies add unauthorized charges from a third-party service to a customer's bill without permission.
Sprint and Verizon Wireless have agreed to offer refunds to customers as part of a national settlement. The companies have agreed to refund more than $120 million nationwide. An estimated 750,000 of those eligible customers live in Indiana.
The settlement specifically involves premium text message subscription services. The companies often charged $9.99 a month for subscriptions like horoscopes, trivia or sports scores that a customer never requested.
The carriers agreed to stop charging the fees in the fall of 2013.
"These collective settlements with the major cellphone providers for alleged mobile cramming will hopefully prevent overcharging schemes like this from occurring again," Attorney General Greg Zoeller said Tuesday. "However, people should always be on the lookout for unfair or deceptive billing practices. Read and understand the terms and charges of your monthly bills with all of your service providers. If something isn't right, work with your provider to get it fixed or, if that doesn't work, file a complaint with our office."
Similar settlements were announced in 2014 with AT&T and T-Mobile.
Sprint customers visit www.sprintrefundpsms.com/Home.aspx to fill out a refund form.
Verizon customers visit http://www.cfpbsettlementverizon.com/ to fill out a refund form.
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