Phone Cramming is the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill. Entities that fraudulently cram people appear to rely largely on confusing telephone bills in order to mislead consumers into paying for services that they did not authorize or receive.

In addition to providing local telephone service, local telephone companies often bill their customers for long distance and other services that other companies provide. When the local company, the long distance telephone company, or another type of service provider either accidentally or intentionally sends inaccurate billing data to be included on the consumer’s local telephone bill – cramming can occur.

Cramming also occurs when a local or long distance company or another type of service provider does not clearly or accurately describe all of the relevant charges to the consumer when marketing the service. Although the consumer did authorize the service, the charge is still considered "cramming" because the consumer was misled. (Copied From WWW.FCC.GOV)

How can you protect yourself from phone bill cramming?

1. Check your phone bill carefully every month.
   
2. Make sure you recognize the names of the companies listed on the bill and the services provided by the phone company.
   
3. Check for charges on calls that you did not make or services you did not authorize.
   
4. Look at the rates and line items if it is the same as quoted by the phone company. If there is a part of the phone bill that you did not understand, do not hesitate to call you long distance provider or your local phone company and ask them to explain the service or charges.
   
5. Make sure you know what kind of service is being provided, even for small charges. Crammers often try to go undetected by charging small amounts to many consumers.
   
6. Keep a record of the phone services you have authorized and used including calls placed to 900 numbers and other types of telephone information services. These records could be very helpful when billing descriptions are unclear.
   
7. Carefully read all forms and promotional materials including the fine print before signing up for a telephone service or other services to be billed on your phone bill.
   

What should you do if your phone bill has been crammed?

Take the following actions if unknown charges are listed on your telephone bill:

1. Call the company that charges you for the calls you did not place or services you did not use. Have them explain the charges and ask for an adjustment for any incorrect charges. For PNG cheap long-distance billing problems, do not hesitate to call our 24-hour customer service 1-800-297-9527 or click here to go to FAQ’s.
   
2. Inform your own local telephone company by calling their toll-free number. The number is located in your telephone bill. Ask them the procedure for removing incorrect charges on your bill.
   
3. If they will not remove any incorrect charges from your telephone bill, you may also file a complaint to the regulatory agency that handles your concern. Click here to file a complaint to FCC.
   

Click here to go to FCC.

Click here on how to file a complaint.

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