You Have Been Served!

Well had to happen sometime I guess. The Florida Attorney General has sued Buongiono. Buongiono is a cellular premium text content provider. The charge — deceptive practices.

The lawsuit stemmed from a probe by the attorney general’s newly created CyberFraud Task Force into deceptive marketing over the Internet.

McCollum’s office said a particularly troubling aspect of Buongiorno’s practices was the “alleged direct targeting of children as the initial consumer and the concern that the company’s advertising is supposedly created specifically to mislead young purchasers of cellphone content.”

For example, according to the Florida attorney general, children visit Internet sites that are prominently displaying ads for free or 100% complimentary ringtones, but the disclaimer that the minor is signing up for a monthly subscription is hidden on a separate page or buried in fine print. McCollum said thousands of parents later found recurring charges of $10 or more on their cellphone bills.

Unlike phising and other Internet scams misrepresented premium text services are darn near impossible to stop. The cellular carrier is only acting as the collection agent. They are not responsible for the billing source. If you reverse charges one month, they can show back up the next. Very pernicious.