Unauthorized charges are being snuck into phone bills and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is predicting that the situation is only going to get worse.

The commission endorsed five steps to prevent unwarranted  charges for businesses, such as service providers and vendors who provide third-party services that charge directly into phone bills.

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Cramming, the addition of unauthorized charges without explanations,  could escalate when paying online with a tablet or smartphone become widespread.

"As mobile payments continue to be on the rise we expect more and more cramming to occur unless companies take preventive measures," said Jessica Rich,  director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, according to the New York Times.

One recommendation made in the instructions were to open up a method in which subscribers can dispute the unapproved charges, much like the process already established for questioning suspicious charges on a credit card bill. Subscribers have been complaining that the process of disputing the strange charges on their phone bills was inconsistent and tedious.

Another suggestion from the commission is to allow users to stop charges from third party companies. It added that the merchants should clearly explain the charges to the consumer before the fees are accepted, and phone bills should reveal payments made for those services.

The guidelines were created by the commission in the emergence of the lawsuit against T-Mobile, where the service provider had allegedly and unlawfully earned hundreds of millions of dollars by putting fake fees on the subscribers' bills for premium texting services that were never ordered.

T-mobile published a statement on its website in response to the lawsuit, repeating the steps that the provider had taken to cushion customers from unwanted payments.

The FTC's set of recommendations are not legal requirements, but some of the listed ideas remind the companies of legal concepts. If a company, for example, is intentionally tricking people into paying fees, there could be ground for a lawsuit.

The report was also intended to remind the companies of consumer protection as the mobile industry evolves, Rich said.

"Any time you've got changes in the marketplace and new types of businesses forming, you want to do the same thing," she added. 

TagsFTC, phone bill, phone, T-mibole, Policies, Policy, Regulations, consumer rights, Consumer Protection