The Federal Communications Commission fined AT&T more than $7 million on Monday for allowing scam artists with alleged links to the drug trade to illegally place charges on customers’ bills.

The company will pay $7.75 million as part of its settlement with the regulatory agency.

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Most of the sum goes to customers defrauded by the scammers, and the remainder belongs to the U.S. Treasury. The scam primary targeted small businesses.

AT&T also agreed to adopt new consumer protection measures, according to the commission.

Federal authorities became aware of the scheme when the Drug Enforcement Agency learned that two companies suspected to be involved in money laundering and drug crimes were charging AT&T landline customers for directory assistance service that was never delivered. Customers were charged roughly $9 each month, according to the commission.

Such scams, known as “cramming,” prey on the increasingly complicated nature of phone bills.

In the age of smartphones, consumers can have a battery of charges on their monthly statement, making it easy to hide an illegal charge. The FCC in recent years has reached settlements over cramming with all four major wireless providers.

The commission’s top enforcement official hailed the settlement.

“A phone bill should not be a tool for drug traffickers, money launderers, and other unscrupulous third parties to fleece American consumers,” said Travis LeBlanc, chief of the agency’s enforcement bureau. “Today’s settlement ensures that AT&T customers who were charged for this sham service will get their money back and that all AT&T consumers will enjoy greater protections against unauthorized charges on their phone bills in the future."

In a statement, AT&T said that customers would receive refund checks and defended its anti-cramming practices.

“We have implemented strict requirements on third parties submitting charges for AT&T bills to ensure that all charges are authorized by our customers; indeed, those requirements go beyond the requirements of FCC rules and impose safeguards that the FCC proposed but never adopted,” said an AT&T spokesperson.

“Nonetheless, unbeknownst to us, two companies that engaged in a sophisticated fraud scheme were apparently able to circumvent those protections and submit unauthorized third-party charges that were billed by AT&T.”