Unauthorized Phone Charges

Question

Last month a charge of $15.25 appeared on my Verizon bill that had never been there before.  According to the bill, I was being invoiced on behalf of "Access Savings" for a "Voicemail Monthly Fee."  My Verizon statement indicated that this portion of my bill was provided as a service to Operator Assistance Network and that I should contact them directly with any questions.  I called the 800 number and was advised that the charge was for an 800 number, requested through an email received from an e-mail account of my son that has been invalid for over a year, when we switched from Comcast to Verizon.  Bottom line is that I told them to cancel the service and I paid my Verizon bill, minus the $15.25.
Have any of you had a similar experience?  I suspect this was a scam, so the message is that we need to read our monthly bills carefully.

Answer 1

I found a third party charge of $13.21 from ESBI on our current bill for a VOICEMAIL IDTHEFTMTHY service which we did not request; I have informed Verizon that I will not pay this charge.
There was also a third party charge of $15.25 from OAN on our March bill which I paid before I realized that we had not requested their VOICEMAILMNTHLY FEE service. I did call OAN and spoke to a very pleasant agent who gave me her employee number and a confirmation number for my request to discontinue this service.  There was no charge from OAN in April.
There a number of sites on the internet where hundreds (if not thousands) have complained about this sort of treatment from ESBI and OAN as well as several other dubious companies, but apparently no one is really going after these scam artists with any effectiveness. Contacting the BBB and the FTC with complaints is not generating much, if any, action.  I am not sure if the FCC has become involved in trying to resolve this serious problem.