Verizon Sues Alleged Text Message Scammers

Scammers have been targeting mobile phone users with increasing frequency and one carrier. Verizon Wireless, says it's fighting back.

The telecommunications giant this week filed a lawsuit in federal court in Pheonix against Jason Hope and Wayne P. DeStefano, along with the companies they own. They're accused of sending out text message spam, trying to dupe consumers into running up expensive third-party text message charges.

The suit asks for injunctive relief, as well as monetary damages for affected consumers. The companies named in the complaint include Cylon, Jawa and Eye Level Holdings.

Texas also sues

In conjunction with the Verizon lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott also filed a lawsuit on behalf of consumers in his state.

"Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been a strong partner in shutting down this fraudulent activity," said Steve Zipperstein, general counsel and vice president of legal and external affairs, Verizon Wireless.

Abbott issued a warning to Texas consumers two years ago about the growing dangers of “smishing,” noting scammers were using it as a way to steal identities.

The Verizon suit claims the defendants sent out millions of spam texts, a practice known as "smishing," encouraging recipients to visit certain websites to get recipes and other content. It failed to disclose that the process would be expensive, running up large bills with a third-party text provider.

File a claim

If you think you were ensnared by this scheme, Verizon says you can visit a special website to learn how to submit a claim.   The website provides full names of all the Premium SMS campaigns and associated short codes Verizon Wireless has been able to trace back to the defendants in the lawsuit.  The campaign names would appear in the Data Charges section of detailed wireless bills; customers can use MyVerizon online to get detailed bills going back one year. 

In addition to customers, Verizon Wireless maintains it was also defrauded. It accuses the defendants of misappropriating approved short codes for unapproved "shadow" campaigns that did not comply with Verizon Wireless' consumer protection and disclosure policies.

The lawsuit claims that the "smishers" managed to block certain IP addresses from accessing the websites associated with these shadow campaigns or were re-directing visitors to shell websites. That, the company says, prevented Verizon Wireless and its auditors from finding the shadow campaign websites in the normal course of monitoring Premium SMS campaigns for compliance.