The US Federal Trade Commission announced today in a post on its blog that AT&T will begin paying out more than 2 billion crowns ($88M) to its customers who were robbed using fraudulent amounts in their monthly statements = cramming scam.
Cramming = a form of fraud in small amounts added to customer accounts. These can be disguised as a tax, a fee or a fake service. It can be worth a few dollars ($9.99 in AT&T's case for fictional horoscopes, ringtones, love tips and fun facts from third-party companies), or just a few cents. The intention of cramming is that the cheated participant will overlook or ignore these small amounts and pay them. In large quantities, small amounts add up to make a much larger amount.
Defrauded and current AT&T customers will get their money back as part of their regular monthly bill over the next 75 days. Another 300 disabled people who are no longer customers of the company can expect an email informing them of how to get their money back.
*Source: 9to5mac
