[dmdeller]

It's not just billing that is the problem. These third-party services send the carrier a list of numbers to subscribe, and the carrier simply takes them at their word that those numbers have opted in, without having any idea whether this is actually true.

Technically, the third-party could simply make up a list of random (but valid) numbers, send them to the carrier to subscribe, and the carrier would do it. There is no technical means in place to stop this. The only thing that (in theory) stops it is the carrier noticing the high number of customer complaints and deciding not to do business with the third-party any more - a clear conflict of interest, since deciding to ignore the problem benefits the carrier financially.

What many of these services do is toe the line, by enticing a customer to give up their phone number for some completely unrelated reason, and bury somewhere in the fine print that they are signing up for a recurring charge on their phone bill. The customer has absolutely no idea that this is happening unless they read through pages of legalese. This way, the charges are technically opt-in, even though no reasonable person would describe it as such.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cramming_(fraud)

The brain-dead simple technical solution for this is for the carrier to check with the customer before adding a charge to the bill. There is no reason not to do this.

Or maybe just get rid of for-pay SMS services altogether. In the age of smartphones they are useless.

[elarkin]

Premium SMS is already gone: http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/12/premium-sms-billing/

[DanBC]

The UK has a regulator that would go after these companies. Any telco that was seen to be coluding with these dodgy companies (even by just ignoring some complaints) would face heavy duty regulation and large fines.

[makomk]

The UK regulator in this area has a reputation for failing to act on complaints and being too close to the industry it's meant to be regulating, as I recall.

Edit: We've had similar problems in the UK for years: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17489393 I don't think most of the customers scammed ever saw refunds, and PhonepayPlus (the industry regulator's) fines are basically slaps on the wrist that are far less than the scammers' profits. Don't think there's ever been any equivalent of the FTC lawsuit over here.

[MadManE]

How is that T-Mobile's fault, though? Don't give out your phone number. Don't give out your Social Security Number. This seems like common sense to me.

[Retric]

Your phone number is public information so keeping it private is hardly on most peoples minds.

This would basicly be the same as CC companies deciding your name and the last 4 digits of your CC number is suddenly enough to sign you up for crap.