Ringtone Scams: Don't Get Caught!

By Arthi Pugazhenthi

Imagine this, you're watching TV when you should be doing homework and a cool ad suggests receiving your cell phone calls to a polyphonic ringtone of "Bootylicious." Sounds like a good idea. You've probably seen many commercials like this from companies such as Jamster and Crazy Frog. They offer seemingly low-cost ringtones of popular songs—you know, pay $2 and get a ringtone.

But there's a big catch:

in many cases, you aren't making a one-time purchase. Many offerings lock you into a weekly or monthly "subscription service" that charges for every text message they send you. Yes, you read that right—they charge you for the messages they send. Easy to get into; tough to get out of.

To target young people the companies use animated characters and popular songs from MTV in their commercials. The ads often appear on channels with high student audiences such as Nickelodeon, MTV and VH-1. Because the ads are misleading, you think you are downloading "free" or "low-cost" ringtones. It's easy to get caught. The service terms and conditions in tiny print flash too quickly on the screen for anyone to read. Often the language is confusing and misleading. You don't know what's happened until the bill arrives. You or your parents are then stuck with big charges you didn't know you'd agreed to. Finding out how to un-subscribe can be very difficult.