Many Web sites mis-selling ring tones and other mobile phone serv...

sites across the 27 EU states, Norway and Iceland found to be scamming consumers seeking ring tones, wallpaper and other services, she said. Of those, 52 percent were corrected and 17 percent of the Web sites have closed, she said. The three main problems were unclear pricing, failure to provide complete contact information, and misleading advertising, particularly when ring tones offered as “free” instead tied buyers into paying subscriptions, she said. More than half of the sites investigated targeted children through the use of cartoon or well-known TV characters, and many had multiple irregularities, the EC said. Ring tones accounted for about 29 percent of Europe’s overall mobile content market in 2007, bringing in an estimated $1 billion, it said. The EC targeted the mobile phone services sector for enforcement because of growing consumer complaints, it said. This sweep and an earlier one on Web sites selling airline tickets are ratcheting up pressure to comply with consumer protection laws, Kuneva said. National authorities are working together more effectively and homing in on problem areas of the consumer market more precisely, she said. The increased media attention is deterring bad business practices and raising consumer awareness, she said. The investigations are “a totally new way of doing business at the EU level,” she added.