Feds' suit claims AT&T bill to FCC involved Nigerian scam

Dallas Business Journal by Lance Murray, Digital Content Producer
Date: Thursday, March 22, 2012, 11:06am CDT - Last Modified: Thursday, March 22, 2012, 11:15am CDT

The Justice Department is suing AT&T over billing to the FCC for a program for the hearing-impaired that allegedly was abused by Nigerian scammers.

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Dallas-based AT&T Inc. , saying the Federal Communications Commission was improperly billed by the telecommunications company for services it provided to the hearing impaired.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the suit involves an AT&T service called IP Relay that allows hearing-impaired people to make phone calls over the Internet by typing messages.

According to the Journal report, the Justice Department accused AT&T of seeking FCC reimbursement for services it provided a group of international callers who primarily were scammers from Nigeria.

Those scammers took advantage of the service's anonymity to defraud U.S. merchants by ordering goods using stolen credit cards or counterfeit checks, the Journal reported. The suit alleges that an estimated 95 percent of the $16 million billed by AT&T for the service since 2009 were for ineligible calls.

Since 2008, providers have been required to register and verify users of the program, the Journal said. The government alleges that, to ensure call volume, AT&T (NYSE: T) set up procedures that it knew would not verify the callers.

AT&T denied the allegations, the Journal reported. The company said it "followed the FCC's rules" for providing the service and for seeking reimbursement from the FCC.

Feds' suit claims AT&T bill to FCC involved Nigerian scam - Dallas Business Journal