Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania-based company that placed charges of over $15 per month for long distance calling minutes on the phone bills of unsuspecting Minnesota residents without their authorization. The practice by which third party vendors put unauthorized charges on a person's phone bill is known as "cramming."
"The company slipped unauthorized charges onto people's phone bills. Cramming works because most people don't realize that their phone bill can be used like a credit card. Because phone bills are long and hard to read, people don't always catch unauthorized charges," Swanson said.
Cramming complaints are on the rise nationwide. The Federal Trade Commission recently called cramming "a significant area of recent consumer complaint," and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) recently said, "It's a problem that's on the increase right now."
The FCC reported receiving 6,714 cramming complaints in 2009, up from 1,761 in 2005. Cramming scams were common in the 1990s but eventually receded following a wave of federal and state crackdowns. They are now on the uptick again due to several factors, including the hard-to-read nature of consumer phone bills; the rise of so-called "billing aggregators" that facilitate the posting of charges; and phone companies themselves, which make money by allowing third parties to put charges on customers' phone bills.
In October 2009, Swanson asked the FCC to promulgate new rules to curb cramming practices, and today she shared the results of her investigation with the FCC.
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who joined Attorney General Swanson at her announcement of the lawsuit, said that the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is actively investigating phone companies for their role in telephone cramming. In November, Klobuchar called on the FCC to take steps to crack down on the practice.
"New technology offers more convenience for consumers, but it also offers crooks new opportunities, such as cramming," said U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. "We need to do more to crack down on this fraudulent practice and prosecute those who engage in it. I commend Attorney General Swanson's work in this area and I will continue to work with her and other federal and state enforcement officials to protect consumers from these scams."
Cheap2Dial lawsuit
Swanson's lawsuit against Cheap2Dial Telephone, LLC alleges that the company placed charges of over $15 for "dial around" long distance calling minutes on the phone bills of Minnesota residents without their authorization. "Dial around" long distance calling minutes are similar to using a calling card to make long distance calls, minus the actual calling card.
Of the 2,567 Minnesota customers who Cheap2Dial billed since 2008, only nine people (0.35 percent) actually used the company's services to make a long distance call.
When the Attorney General's Office asked Cheap2Dial to produce verification that consumers knowingly signed up for the company's services, the company supplied the wrong information for many consumers, including incorrect names, emails, and birthdates.
Cheap2Dial's monthly fees ranged from $13.97 per month (for 358 calling minutes) to $14.97 per month (for 383 calling minutes), plus fees and taxes that push the total monthly charges to over $17.
The lawsuit was filed in Hennepin County District Court and seeks injunctive relief, restitution, and civil penalties.
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Swanson offered this advice to consumers:
- Scrutinize your phone bill. Review your phone bill each month for unauthorized charges as carefully as you would look over your bank or credit card statement. "Crammed" charges are often buried many pages into the bill. Charges may appear under innocent-looking headings like "member fee," "voicemail," "service charge," "other fees," "calling plan," or "web hosting."
- Say "no" to seemingly free giveaways. Some crammers use prize drawings, contests, or free giveaways to dupe people into unknowingly signing up for their services. So-called "free offers" almost always have strings attached. Read the fine print before signing up for anything -- even if it is touted as "free."
- Ask your phone company to block third party charges. Some phone companies allow you to block all charges from third parties. Ask your phone company if it honors such requests. If so, third party charge blocking may help you avoid getting "crammed."
- If you've been crammed. If you find unauthorized charges on your phone bill, promptly contact both your phone company and the third party vendor to dispute the charges, ask that all future charges stop, and ask for a refund of past charges. Under Minnesota law, your local landline phone company is not supposed to put third party charges on your phone bill unless the third party vendor has obtained your express authorization.
If you notify your phone company that an unauthorized charge from a third party was included on your bill, the phone company must remove the charge and credit your account for any amounts you paid for the unauthorized charges in the last six months, unless the third party that put the charges on your phone bill can produce within 14 days evidence that you authorized the charges.
