Red Tape Chronicles has followed up on the Developmentally disabled 18-year old Amanda Clark who ran up $10,000 in premium text messages whom we told you about last week. The text messages were part of teenage text chat services advertised in the back of her teen mags. “Hook a hottie,” they said. Sprint agreed to cut the bill in half but won’t budge further. The UK-based text message company says that since she texted “Y” in response to the message, ‘Y’ to: ‘74447’ to start. 14+ textconnectusa.com Help?1-866-662-7132. Send STOP to end.100c per msg rcvd + std msg fees,” the girl should have been completely informed as to the service’s cost and the family is plumb out of luck. In all, 642 messages were received.

The cost for so-called “premium” text messages can quickly skyrocket. Cellphone companies need to also develop early-warning and fraud protection systems similar to credit card companies. Parents paying for their kids’ cellphone bill should check it more than once a month so they can catch charges before they get out of hand. Also, it might be wise to include text message services among the list of “stranger dangers” you tell your kids to stay away from.

In a related story, we told you how to partially and/or fully turn of text messages to fight text message spam.

Price for ‘premium’ text messages? $10,000 [Red Tape Chronicles]

PREVIOUSLY: “Premium Texting” By Disabled Daughter Results In $10,000 Sprint Bill

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