Verizon Wireless is allegedly charging its cell phone customers $1.99 each time a customer unintentionally presses a button on their phone to access the internet.

This is an ongoing class action investigation and potential national class action lawsuit against Verizon Wireless on behalf of certain of its customers for an alleged unauthorized charge appearing on customers bills.

Verizon Wireless is one of the largest cell phone providers in the United States. Some Verizon customers have alleged that they unknowingly are paying extra money—maybe even every month—for a data service that the customer does not want and never intended to use. According to one report, Verizon Wireless has charged $1.99 at random times (sometimes more than once a month) when a Verizon Wireless customer unintentionally accesses the internet using Verizon Wireless' “Mobile Web” or the “Get It Now” data download service. If one of those services pop up on your phone, even if you immediately try to cancel it, you will be charged for the base service—usually $1.99 for 1 MB of data, no matter how little you actually saw.

One report from a Cleveland based news reporter is even more startling. In one instance, she had taken her son's cell phone from him and places the cell phone in her dresser drawer. It was on that day that a $1.99 charge appeared on her bell. Verizon's explanation: his contact list was backed up and that triggered the $1.99 charge.

You may have no idea what you did to trigger the service, but Verizon has made it as easy as possible to do by linking it to an easily hit keystroke, often one of the arrow keys around the “OK” button. These dedicated keys are generally non-reprogrammable, making it difficult to avoid accidentally triggering a high-priced service you don’t at all want.

It may not cost you enough money to pay much attention to it. It could happen once every few months or maybe even a few times a month—depending on how often your finger slips onto the “wrong” key. But given the 87 million customers Verizon Wireless can use this scheme on, you could be one of millions that fall prey to the company’s moneymaking scheme.

It’s simply not right for a company to deliberately design a system that will charge customers for services that they don’t intend to use and gain no benefit from. Don’t let Verizon Wireless continue to profit from this scheme. You should be paying for the service you want—not the charges the company tricks you into accepting.

If you find data fees on your Verizon Wireless bill that you did not expect or intend to use, contact us right away to discuss your legal rights