ATT is complicit in cram scams
by refusing to bar 'opt-out only'
ATT permits a scam whereby a cell-phone user is charged $9.99 a month if he or she fails to open a message, read it and follow the opt-out instructions, the New York Times' Haggler blog discloses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/your-money/beware-of-cramming-on-your-cellphone-bill-the-haggler.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120325

The fact that ATT cheerfully removed the charge from a consumer's bill does nothing to mitigate the fact that the consumer is automatically charged following an unsolicited message -- in this case for some astrology service.

Needless to say, such charges might easily escape the attention of careless or preoccupied people.

This writer had a similar problem with his ATT service and, following his complaints, ATT resolved the matter with "parental controls" on his cell phone (the writer is well over 40 but his family shares a cell phone plan).

It appears that Congress might need to set up a "do-not-text" list for unsolicited commercial text messages.

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