M-Qube
Placed unauthorized charges of $48.33 on my cell phone that is then billed through Verizon Wireless

Re: Account # xx

I have four Verizon Cell #'s and one home phone line.

The four cell numbers are xx, xx, xx and xx. My home line is xx (ROR REDACTED PHONE NUMBERS FOR SECURITY PURPOSES))).

I just received my Verizon phone bill this month and the total was $265.22. of this, $48.33 was billed for some sort of 'Premium SMS Text service that appears to be 7 separate charges, 6 at $5.99 each and one at $9.99. This was to my phone # xx which is my wife's phone. My wife never text messages anyone and does not know how to do this; she does not even know how to enter a phone number in her cell phone address book. This is from a service called 2yourcell.com and I believe that the web site is www.2yourcell.com The Verizon Customer Rep says this is from a company called M-Qube in Toronto Canada. Their address is 312 Adelaide St W Suite 700, Toronto, ON M5V 1R2, Canada and their phone # is 416-644-1470.

The second charge is to my daughter's cell # xx for 10 separate premium text messages at $.99 each for a total of $9.90. This is from a service called Emexus web site www.emexus.com Ph 212 966 8600 and also www.2bemobile.com which I tracked to a Netherlands company called www.2waytraffic.com Their US address is 1230 Avenue of the Americas, 7th Fl. New York, NY 10020 United States adn their US Ph # is 212-618-6352.

The Verizon customer service folks gave me phone numbers to reach these two places, 800-235-7105 for the $48.33 charge to my wife's xx number and 877-789-5200 to my daughter's xx number. When I call these numbers I cannot reach a live person, I just reach recorded messages that immediately ask me if I wish to terminate my premium SMS text service.

The Verizon customer service rep I spoke with said she reached someone from both of these companies and they told her it is possible to sign up for these services via the web if you know someone's cell number.

Apparently someone signed me up for these services via the web. Clearly I am not liable for the charges incurred and I don't feel that I should have to go through the trouble of contacting these companies that are extremely difficult to contact to try to clear up these charges. Why is Verizon allowed to bill me for these erroneous charges?

Thanks for any assistance you can provide in this matter.