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Cram this: a firsthand account of cramming

arstechnica.com — The Federal Trade Commission calls this "the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill." Crammers rely on confusing telephone bills in an attempt to trick consumers into paying for services they did not authorize or receive, or that cost more than the consumer was led to believe.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 28, 2008

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  • EdwardsNH, on 05/28/2008, -1/+29I guess this is one advantage of belonging to vonage.
  • rishubhav, on 05/28/2008, -8/+33Church of Scientology church locator (provides phone numbers of churches): http://locator.scientology.org/scn/

    Let's hit him in the only place they care about - the wallet. It's payback time
  • mrgodai, on 05/28/2008, -0/+23i don't know how i manage to read the word "fisting" from the title >.>
  • BigSabowski, on 05/28/2008, -0/+21Just another reason to move away from the big phone companies if you can.
  • ScarletStream, on 05/28/2008, -1/+21Dealing with phone company billing is ridiculous. I've spent hours dealing with a Sprint billing dispute, and their customer service people are braindead. 1/100 actually know what they're doing and can help solve your problem.
  • GeekyGerge, on 05/28/2008, -0/+19When you call customer support, do you get put through to America?
  • NoCt1, on 05/28/2008, -0/+16***** man everytime i call to complain i get someone in india.
  • mustafya, on 05/28/2008, -0/+12Even though the FCC has fined companies in the past for this they refuse to enact regulation that will actually prevent it. I work at a major telco and we all hate this crap but there is literally nothing we can do about it. This is one issue that the FCC needs to step up on.

    I would also like to note it is not the large telecom companies doing this. In fact telecom companies don't do it at all. These are small scam operations that go through USBI and other vendors. The reason USBI and the other mentioned vendor are popular is because they have lax standards. These "companies" are usually ran out of the back of some guy house.

    Large telecom would absolutely love to shut these people down but we can't deny their billing without a block from the customer or the FCC will crawl up our ass.
  • PhattyPhattMatt, on 05/28/2008, -0/+11Cram this: a *fisting* account of cramming

    sounds more interesting...
  • celotil, on 05/28/2008, -0/+11Here in Australia we have these wonderful phone numbers which start with "19" and can be either a six digit number, like 192-029, or a longer number, like 1-900-345-345. If you like you can order phone ring tones or other such nonsense and the charges, tiny little ***** written on the bottom of the television screen during the ad, are place on your phone bill.

    The problem with these numbers is that if someone sends you an SMS from a 19-number and they charge, let's say for example, $5 for the privilege of reading said SMS, you get charged that $5 on your bill, and they don't have to prove you requested the SMS.

    Let me say that again,

    If you have a mobile phone in Australia, and you receive an SMS from a 19-number, you will be charged whatever the sending party has decided to charge. It could be 50 cents, or $6 (I think $6 is the limit but I'm not sure), but you will be charged and the phone company are a real pain to get that charge removed from your bill.

    My parents got hit with 19-numbers a while back and, after finding out that the phone company didn't need any sort of verification that the charges were valid, I rang my mobile phone service provider and had all numbers starting with 19 blocked from my account - they could send, but the message would never reach my small part of the network, and I'd never get billed for them.

    If you live in Australia, get all numbers with 19 blocked from calling or SMS'ing you, now, before they hit you with ***** bills. There is never anything useful on those phone numbers, and if you really need ring tones, screen savers, or other such banal ***** on your phone, then figure out how the ***** Bluetooth works and use that.
  • inactive, on 05/28/2008, -1/+11I, for one, would much rather read THAT article.
  • theysayjump, on 05/28/2008, -0/+9Vonage ftw.
  • Sairynn, on 05/28/2008, -0/+8I don't know that I like the idea of "belonging to" a company.
  • brook011, on 05/28/2008, -0/+7I had a long distance phone bill show up on my credit report once, some random company down in Florida. Only reason I knew they were attempting to charge or scam me was because I checked my credit.
  • geniusNOTatWORK, on 05/28/2008, -0/+6I thought this article was going to help me cram for my finals next week. I was thoroughly disappointed
  • inactive, on 05/28/2008, -0/+6freudian reading?
  • cerejota, on 05/28/2008, -0/+6ANONS, ACTIVATE!
  • rockus, on 05/28/2008, -0/+6I really hope such a practice does not come to India. Its a royal pain in the ass to deal with the normal bill dispute itself.
  • benjorino, on 05/28/2008, -0/+5if only the world you live in was reality... :(
  • noerrorsfound, on 05/28/2008, -0/+5"These Americans are so hard to understand..."
  • yodaj007, on 05/28/2008, -0/+5You, too, shall be assimilated. Just give it some time.
  • Prescottonian, on 05/28/2008, -0/+5Verizon was//is doing this to me. I was in NYC and added the unlimited data plan. After mentioning 4 times I did not need the 900 minute plan, I sign the 450 minute plan. LSS 3 months later I am able to convince someone that they, not me, screwed the pooch. They did not want to credit me for the extra I had paid after their 5 screw ups. From this I have learned to get a new agent if the one you get sucks (just redial).
  • Raptor007, on 05/28/2008, -0/+5This really makes me angry. At least with credit cards, you can tell your provider "I won't pay that charge".

    Phone companies need to give this power to the customer; they shouldn't pay the 3rd party charger until the customer pays the phone company. And 3rd party charges should not be included in automatic payment systems.
  • jansie, on 05/28/2008, -0/+4we have our fair share of trouble with our 'service' providers in south africa. i'm with vodacom. sheesh, what a rip-off. but then again, we have one telecom. no competition.
  • mustafya, on 05/28/2008, -0/+4Find their dispute address and use it. Don't deal with customer service on a legitimate dispute. Find the applicable tariff and use it to dispute the charge. Trust me, this is something I do on a weekly basis and it works.

    You are absolutely right about customer service being braindead. Especially if you end up dealing with them over a wholesale issue (CABS/SECABS). Some companies don't have a dedicated service group for wholesale and it really sucks to deal with them.
  • theysayjump, on 05/28/2008, -6/+10Woohoo, woohoohoo! Woohoo, woohoohoo!
  • mustafya, on 05/28/2008, -0/+4Any FCC regulated wireline phone company is subject to this happening. The only way around it is not to have wireline or to go with VOIP.
  • inactive, on 05/28/2008, -0/+4I know where I would like to cram bills like those.
  • chrisduser, on 05/28/2008, -0/+4I'd like to see cramming that is going on in legislation and other law bills ended. "Hey look at this bill regarding education funds, lets also sneak in legislation that would never pass on its own."
  • nyx210, on 05/28/2008, -0/+4Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
  • jerwin, on 05/28/2008, -3/+7If you put your cell phone bill in your microwave, after about a minute a large foamy blob begins to form and eventually turns into a huge head of a beast. This is the soul of your cell phone bill and is related to the beast that emerges when you microwave your cell phone (see previous DIGG article on this)

    Do NOT do this. If you release this beast from your cell phone bill, and then from your microwave oven, it will seek out the beast in your SIM chip and mate, creating new cell phone charges that you can never eliminate. They can also infect unrelated cell phones in your house, but the mating cycle takes a bit longer.

    I hate SIM technology.
  • mustafya, on 05/28/2008, -3/+6Big telecom doesn't do this. Small scam operators use loopholes in the FCC regulations to go through billing aggregators like USBI to place third party charges on your phone bill. Telecom absolutely hates this but our hands are tied unless you give us permission to put a third party block on the account.
  • inactive, on 05/28/2008, -4/+7Uh, Scientology has been crazy for many years. Why all the attention NOW?

    Me, I focus my hate on the fact that the government wants 40% of what I earn.
  • jtrasatti, on 05/28/2008, -0/+3I had something similar happen to me. Someone called my office, said they were on the other line with technical support and they needed to send my boss (used his name) some paperwork and "could you verify your address?" Me not thinking, said "Sure" and instead of actually verifying the address she said "go ahead" and I proceeded to tell her the mailing address. I then heard a beep and then nothing. Did some research of my own and came up with a ton a people talking about this scam and how they tack on $49.99 on your phone bill. When you try and dispute it they say, "We have you on a recording agreeing to the service and verifying your information." Owned.
  • breadfred, on 05/28/2008, -0/+3You are right, but there is a problem which many people overlook. A telephone line has it's own power. If you have a power outage in an emergency situation, your VOIP will not work. Nor will your mobile phone, as it is reliant on those little power-dependent antenna's everywhere. Your land line will still work, so you can get in touch with your dearly beloved. This is also the reason I still have an old-fashioned phone in the cupboard with the horn attached with a wire(!) in a convenient location, ready to plug in. (I usually use a wireless phone)
  • puter, on 05/28/2008, -0/+2Read the article, kthxbye
  • LaCamiseta, on 05/29/2008, -0/+2Then I'd just make it mandatory that every time someone signs up for your service or renews their contract, you ask them if they would like to block all third party billing. Simple and effective. They can't crawl up your brown eye for letting people know their rights, can they?
  • cerejota, on 05/28/2008, -1/+3Of course, regulation is evil.

    / sarcasm
  • inactive, on 05/28/2008, -3/+5"Oh thats right, the federal government helped with that, using our taxes"

    And exactly HOW did the Federal government do this, Ron? By putting cell phone spectra up for auction and letting the FREE MARKET decide who would own them?

    God you people are dumb. You mindlessly blame every market failure on the "government" because believing otherwise means your lord and savior might not be all he's cracked up to be.
  • IMADV8, on 05/28/2008, -0/+2Yeah, I had that problem with my GDO last week. The bastards actually tried to slap a PJC charge onto my RHCT subaccount instead of my WRUH37 account. I ended up canceling my HRPL account with them and opening a TDJ account with someone else. It's working out pretty well.
  • AndreiOttawa, on 05/28/2008, -1/+3..or have a pre-paid cell phone
  • PhattyPhattMatt, on 05/28/2008, -2/+4Lets elect Chuck Norris so then he can round house all of the crammers out there, thus saving the world, again...
  • rockus, on 05/28/2008, -0/+2WTF? Am I missing a joke here? Enlighten, dear diggers!
  • mustafya, on 05/28/2008, -1/+3Normally yes it would be an indicator of something being done wrong. But when you help manage as many invoices as I do there are new things popping up all the time. Like say an RBOC converts their circuit ID naming from the way they used to do it to the Telcordia standard. That is just one example of the stuff I have to deal with. Most of what I do is actually tariff based. Such as channel mileage being charged to a T1 when it should be charged to the OC192 that the T1 uses as a CFA.
  • breadfred, on 05/28/2008, -0/+2If you use this on a weekly basis, you are obviously doing something wrong. Just sayin'.
  • PhattyPhattMatt, on 05/28/2008, -0/+2its not a joke its a plug for that company... digg it down!
  • david76, on 05/28/2008, -0/+2Love the file name...

    cram-this.ars
  • cjacks9, on 05/28/2008, -0/+2"It's difficult to imagine just how withered the souls of the people who run these operations must be. One hopes they are making a pile of cash and living it up right now, because they'll be first against the wall when the revolution comes."

    I'm wondering if this is the BIG revolution, or just the revolution against jacked up telecom companies?
  • dpazar2, on 05/28/2008, -0/+2Anyone else read that he went to the gym and punched a "Body Bag"??? What kind of gym does he go to and he is not the type of consumer i would illegitimately bill if he goes and punches dead people when aggravated.
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