You might remember slamming, or switching someone’s long-distance carrier without their knowledge or permission, as a crime of the years just after phone deregulation, when the idea that one could switch long-distance carriers was novel. It’s a scam that still happens to people with landlines, though, and you should know how to prevent it, and what you should warn landline-having friends and relatives not to do. [More]
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T-Mobile, AT&T Customers Can Now Request Their $170M In Refunds From Cramming Settlements
By 12.30.14
Earlier this year, AT&T and T-Mobile both reached major settlements with federal regulators over the illegal practice of cramming: third-party charges snuck onto wireless customers’ bills without their authorization. Combined, the two settlements will put about $170 million back in consumers’ pockets. But in order to get money back, consumers first have to ask for it. [More]
FCC Reportedly Planning To Fine Sprint $105M For Wireless Bill-Cramming
By 12.16.14
Just two months after the Federal Communications Commission imposed its largest fine on AT&T for overcharging consumers using a practice known as “bill-cramming,” the regulator is reportedly poised to saddle Sprint with the same $105 million fine for similar practices. [More]
AT&T To Pay $105 Million To Settle Wireless Bill-Cramming Charges
By 10.8.14
In a few minutes, the Federal Trade Commission, the FCC and attorneys general from 50 states and the District of Columbia will announce a $105 million deal with AT&T that settles allegations that the company has profited off the practice known as “bill-cramming,” third-party charges illegally placed on customers’ wireless bills without authorization. [More]
FTC Accuses Company Of Cramming Millions Of Dollars Of Bogus Charges On Wireless Bills
By 4.17.13
In the first case of its kind for the wireless industry, the Federal Trade Commission has accused a company and its owners of raking in millions of dollars by charging wireless customers for text services they never signed up for. [More]
New Legislation Asks FCC To Create Anti-Cramming Rules For Wireless Bills
By 6.14.12
While recent action by the FCC created rules intended to curb the practice of “cramming” unauthorized third-party charges on consumers’ landline phone bills, it did nothing to stop the same from happening for wireless customers. Today, Senator Jay Rockefeller IV introduced legislation that would end the practice and direct the FCC to create rules covering wireless customers. [More]
FTC Goes After Nation's Largest 3rd-Party Billing Company For Profiting Off Bill-Cramming
By 5.8.12
The federal crackdown on the practice of landline bill-cramming — the slathering on of charges for often unauthorized third-party services onto consumers’ phone bills — continues, with the Federal Trade Commission accusing the country’s largest third-party billing business of attempting to cram $70 million worth of bogus charges down consumers’ throats. [More]
