BLOOMBERG:  AT&T Inc. (T) got more than $16 million from the U.S. government to offer a calling service for the deaf that the company knew was being used by Nigerian fraudsters to steal from American merchants, the Justice Department said.

The U.S., which intervened yesterday in a whistle-blower lawsuit in federal court in Pittsburgh, alleges AT&T allowed an Internet-based phone system to be overrun by criminals and then improperly billed the U.S. to reimburse the calls in violation of the False Claims Act.

As many as 95 percent of the calls in AT&T’s hearing-impaired program were made by people outside the U.S. attempting to defraud merchants through the use of stolen credit cards, counterfeit checks and money orders, according to the complaint…   (more)