Cramming is the act of putting unauthorized charges on your telephone bill. These charges may be a one time phony bill or they may turn into a regular monthly dip into your wallet. Telephone bills today are so complicate, long and full of fine print that many people either do not bother to read them, or just give up when they can’t understand them. Often these phony charges were authorized without knowing so by the victim who may have filled out a form such as a sweepstakes entry without noticing that within the fine print is a notice that you are also signing up for some service to be added to your phone bill. Recently this problem has gotten worse as consumers are being sent confusing text messages that that when victims respond to end up cramming additional monthly fees to the victim’s cell phone bill. New York Senator Chuck Schumer is asking the Federal Communications Commission to require cell phone carriers get consent from consumers before permitting any third party charges on the consumer’s cell phone bill.
TIP
Be wary of responding to texts from people you don’t know. Always check your phone bill and cell phone bill for ‘miscellaneous charges and credits,” “Member fees” or any other fee that you don’t recognize and dispute any charges you did not authorize.
