AT&T allegedly sought reimbursement from the TRSF for calls it knew were not eligible for the subsidy. DOJ sues AT&T over Nigerian scam

The Justice Department is accusing AT&T of improperly billing a federal subsidy fund for calls made by Nigerian scam artists, in a lawsuit announced today.

AT&T allegedly sought reimbursement from the Telecommunications Relay Services Fund for calls it knew were not eligible for the subsidy, particularly from foreign callers who sought to defraud U.S. merchants, according to the Justice Department. The fund is administered by the FCC for “IP Relay” calls, in which hearing-impaired people make telephone calls to hearing people via Internet messages that are facilitated by IP Relay providers.


“As a result of AT&T’s false and fraudulent claims for payment of international callers, whose misuse of IP Relay was facilitated by the company’s deficient registration processes, the United States has paid millions of dollars for calls by Nigerian and other international fraudsters,” the department said in its complaint.

The lawsuit originated in a Pennsylvania federal court by a former worker in an AT&T IP Relay center, under whistleblower provisions in the False Claims Act. The Justice Department is taking over the case and seeking treble damages, restitution and civil penalties. According to the complaint, as much as 95 percent of the IP Relay calls AT&T processed and billed since November 2009 were made by international callers attempting fraud.

An AT&T spokesman said the company has abided by FCC rules.

“AT&T has followed the FCC's rules for providing IP Relay services for disabled customers and for seeking reimbursement for those services,” AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said. “As the FCC is aware, it is always possible for an individual to misuse IP Relay services, just as someone can misuse the postal system or an email account, but FCC rules require that we complete all calls by customers who identify themselves as disabled.”

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 11:10 a.m. on March 22, 2012.

This article tagged under: Nigeria

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