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Business Firm Charged In Spam Texting Suit

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (STMW) - A class action suit was filed this week in federal court against a Naperville company alleged to have tried to sell magazine subscriptions through text mails.

Wenner Media LLC and Consumer Benefit Services Inc., of Naperville, were charged with making unsolicited text message calls to cellular telephones to promote paid subscriptions to their products, including magazines, identity protection services and discount clubs. Wenner publishes several well-known magazines such as Us Weekly. CBSI is described in the suit as an "international relationship marketer."

The suit alleges that those who received the unsolicited calls suffered not only because "consumers were subjected to the aggravation that necessarily accompanies wireless spam, but also because consumers frequently have to pay their cell phone service providers for the receipt of such wireless spam."

The companies were cited under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits unsolicited voice and text calls to cell phones.

The suit seeks an injunction requiring the companies to stop all wireless spam activities and an award of statutory damages to the class members, together with costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. The suit asks that consumers who received the texts, sent from Consumer Benefit Services on behalf of Wenner Media, receive $500 per messages such as these identified in the suit:

"CONGRATULATIONS: U HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO RECEIVE A $50 SHOPPING VOUCHER AND 3 OF UR FAVORITE MAGAZINES!

CALL 888-210-8995 NOW. 2 END RPLY STOP."

When recipients of the above text messages call the toll-free telephone numbers identified in the bodies of such messages, the suit alleges, defendants and/or their agents present offers for various magazines and subsequent credit card charges appear, such as "WMA Us Weekly," "ID Sentinel Alert" and "United Benefit Advantage," among others.

© Sun-Times Media Wire Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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