Missouri- Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has settled with two adult Web sites that allegedly billed at least 150 Missouri consumers for unauthorized services.

Nixon settled a lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court last year against Alyon Technologies Inc., of Secaucus, N.J., and Telcollect Inc., of Norcross, Ga.

The case was part of a national action taken by a group of states against the two companies. The two companies agreed to ensure from now own they would obtain adult authorization before connecting a computer user to porn sites. Many sites were accessed by juveniles.

The settlement also included a payment of $285,000. Missouri’s share of the settlement was $15,000. The companies denied any wrongdoing.

The settlement ends a lengthy case generated by many complaints from parents who said they ended up with large bills for services they never authorized. Some consumers were charged $4.99 a minute for accessing porn sites they hadn’t visited.

Many consumers reported the billing occurred after a pop-up ad for a Web site appeared on their screens. The customers closed the ads but still received a bill from the defendants, apparently after modem dialer software was automatically downloaded to their computers.

The software could then be used to dial up the Alyon billing gateway to access adult material. Alyon captured the phone number, matched it with a name and address, and then billed consumers, investigators in the case said.

Consumers who called a toll-free telephone number provided on the bill reported great difficulty in reaching a customer service representative. Those that did often were told they would have to prove they did not order the service.

At least one Missourian paid a bill of more than $600 to Alyon.

In addition to the payment, other provisions of the settlement require the companies to automatically credit certain eligible consumers’ bills and provide cash refunds.

Alyon will also provide affected consumers with a free utility program they can download to remove all modem dialer software deposited by the adult Web site operators who were Alyon clients.

In addition, Alyon will require the adult Web site operators to refrain from using potentially deceptive methods to download the modem software onto consumers’ computers, including impairing their ability to close out a popup box and depositing spyware on the computer.

Any consumers who were billed for charges incurred before June 15, 2003, but who do not automatically qualify for an automatic bill credit or cash refund can request a credit of disputed charges.

They must follow a specific procedure, including completing and sending an affidavit to Alyon within 45 days of any collection attempt. The affidavits are available on the Alyon Web site, www.alyon.net.

Consumers who have questions about an Alyon bill can call the Attorney General’s consumer protection hotline at 1-800-392-8222 or obtain a complaint form online at www.ago.mo.gov.