The U.S. DOJ has sued AT&T, claiming the carrier improperly billed them for services that are used by deaf and hard-of-hearing subscribers.
Those users can place calls by typing messages over the Internet.
Explains USA Today: "The system has been abused by callers overseas who use it to defraud U.S. merchants by ordering goods with stolen credit cards and counterfeit checks. In response, the federal government ordered telecom companies to register their users.
The Justice Department lawsuit AT&T failed to adopt procedures to detect or prevent fraudulent users from registering. The government said the company feared its call volumes would drop once fraudulent users were prevented from calling on the system. The government reimbursed AT&T $1.30 per minute for every call on this system."
AT&T says they followed FCC rules for the services and was justified in getting their reimbursements. The DOJ, on the other hand, says 95 percent of the calls since November 2009 have been made by fraudulent users, many of which are from Nigeria.
Due to the Americans With Disabilities Act, the government must "ensure the availability of telecom relay services allowing the hearing- or speech-impaired in the U.S. to place phone calls." The service in question is Internet Protocol Relay.
Explains USA Today: "The system has been abused by callers overseas who use it to defraud U.S. merchants by ordering goods with stolen credit cards and counterfeit checks. In response, the federal government ordered telecom companies to register their users.
The Justice Department lawsuit AT&T failed to adopt procedures to detect or prevent fraudulent users from registering. The government said the company feared its call volumes would drop once fraudulent users were prevented from calling on the system. The government reimbursed AT&T $1.30 per minute for every call on this system."
AT&T says they followed FCC rules for the services and was justified in getting their reimbursements. The DOJ, on the other hand, says 95 percent of the calls since November 2009 have been made by fraudulent users, many of which are from Nigeria.
Due to the Americans With Disabilities Act, the government must "ensure the availability of telecom relay services allowing the hearing- or speech-impaired in the U.S. to place phone calls." The service in question is Internet Protocol Relay.
