AT&T has just settled a class action lawsuit from AT&T customers who between January 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008 had been deceived into paying for ringtones based services they order.

The scam basically works by an online site offering you free ringtones, or text message jokes and horoscopes. As soon as they convince you to enter in your phone number they can charge you through your carrier, if you've actually agreed to anything or not.

(Reputable sites won't complete a transaction without you sending a conformation text message first.)

Anyway, while AT&T wasn't behind these scams, they accepted a percentage fee from the charges, there by making them complicit and ultimately culpable in the deception.

What's still not clear is how much money AT&T is going to refund, especially as many of these cases have already been settled by AT&T on a customer by customer basis.

Because of the issue, AT&T will now only work with mobile content companies that adhere to the text message confirm system.