A small, unauthorized fee added to mobile and landline phone bills is called cramming and it is a growing problem.
The cramming fee is bogus and usually small, under $10 a month. It might be listed on your bill as a "premium service" or other generic-sounding charge.Frankly, there appears to be a basis for consumers to initiate a class-action suit against the fraudsters.
Cramming had long been a problem with traditional landline phones, but after pressure from lawmakers, regulators and others, some of the largest landline carriers last year said they would no longer allow third-party billing — where an outside company offers and then charges the landline customer for services like third-party email, faxing, and voicemail.
Now, the focus of concern is shifting to wireless phones and cramming.
1 comment:
With 35-plus year in telecom & cellular phones as a tech, it is more that what you describe.
With the supply of numbers tight, even back in the mid 90's, numbers were disconected for one subscriber and re-subscribed to another. Oft times with the past number owners add-ons.
This happened to me for about 6 months, one day I took a good look at the bill I was paying and found I was being billed for a 3rd party answering service.
I made the corrections to my bill, told them about it and had it fixed.
Or so I thought, I was still owed money, about US$150.
Watch your bills!
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