AT&T Customers to Receive More Than $88M in Refunds Following Mobile Cramming

OK, so it also says the unauthorized customer charges were usually $9.99 per month, and the average refund is $31 per customer. So any customer that didn’t notice for more than 4 months is still losing, before you even take into account whatever else their customers might have needed an extra $10 a month for in life (like paying different bills, or buying food). AND, AT&T surely received plenty of extra money from whichever 3rd parties were asking them to do this, money that was probably not covered in any fine.

Meaning that AT&T still profited from doing unreasonable things, and customers still suffered even if they received a refund. Businesses still do not have sufficient incentive to do right, they can still just wait until they’re caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

To change behavior, a penalty has to be really extreme: some amount where it clearly pose a massive risk to shareholders if the company were to exhibit the questionable behavior. Something like: “400% refund to all affected customers, plus a fine equal to 12% of the profits made illegally, plus a 5 year probation period where the company must submit to full audits every quarter (paid for by the company)”, etc.