FCC Fines Telecom $1M For 'Cramming,' 'Slamming' Consumers With Deceptive Calls And Charges
The Federal Communications Commission announced a $1 million fine against Tuesday against Advantage Telecommunications of Florida for changing customer long distance plans without proper authorization.
The telecom also was found to be adding unapproved charges to customer bills, which the FCC said was in violation of the commission’s “truth-in-billing” rules that require companies to explain charges clearly.
Read: FCC Rule Change: Small Carriers Now Exempt From Truth-In-Billing Requirements
The FCC said in a statement from the FCC it had received more than 150 complaints filed against Advantage Telecommunications, including complaints from other small businesses that claimed Advantage telemarketers impersonated employees of other service providers.
The FCC found Advantage employees would call businesses and individuals and pose as representatives for the recipient’s existing long-distance service provider. The Advantage telemarketer would then convince the customer to switch carriers without obtaining verified authorization — a practice known as “slamming.”
Advantage’s other offense, adding unauthorized charges onto the telephone bills of its customers, is known as “cramming.” Both practices have come under increased scrutiny by the FCC in recent years.
“Over the past several years, we’ve increasingly seen hucksters and criminals profit from reselling telephone services to American consumers without their consent,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a 2016 statement on the issue.
"As I remarked last year, there is now a market for fraud. And it’s a market our own rules created because they specifically prohibit a carrier from verifying whether a carrier-change request is legitimate or not.”
Read: FCC Considers Shortening Wait Period For New ISPs To Start Building Networks
The enforcement of the truth-in-billing rules passed by the previous administration is interesting since Pai pushed to roll back the regulation earlier this year. Pai and fellow Republican Commissioner Michael O’Rielly passed an order in January that rolled back the requirements for transparent billing practices, exempting companies with 250,000 or fewer subscribers.
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