OLYMPIA — State Attorney General Bob Ferguson says about 231,000 T-Mobile customers in Washington may be eligible for a share of a settlement with the company over billing unauthorized charges, a practice known as cramming.
Consumers can request a refund online www.t-mobilerefund.com .
Under an agreement announced Friday by the Federal Trade Commission, the company headquartered in Bellevue will pay about $68 million to consumers nationally.
State attorneys will share an $18 million fine. Ferguson says Washington’s share of that is $727,000.
A $5 million fine goes to the FTC.
T-Mobile has agreed to pay at least $90 million to settle an investigation into allegations that the Bellevue company billed customers millions of dollars in unauthorized third-party subscriptions and premium text messaging services — a practice known as cramming.
Under the agreement, T-Mobile will pay at least $67.5 million in restitution to customers around the country. If consumer claims exceed that amount, T-Mobile will be responsible for paying all of them.
In addition to the full refunds T-Mobile will have to pay $18 million in fines and penalties to the attorneys general of all 50 states and the District of Columbia and $4.5 million to the Federal Communications Commission to be paid to the U.S. Treasury.
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile in July, alleging the company placed millions of dollars in unwanted third-party charges on its customers’ mobile phone bills, receiving 35 percent to 40 percent of every charge they placed. The charges were for services like horoscopes, love tips and celebrity gossip, for which T-Mobile typically billed consumers $9.99 per month.
