FCC alleges slamming, cramming targeting ‘consumers with Hispanic surnames’
Staff at the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau last week proposed fines totaling $29.6 million against four long-distance providers accused of slamming and cramming Hispanic consumers.
Specifically, the FCC is calling out OneLink Communications, TeleDias Communications, TeleUno and Cytel, which while operating separately are actually all related companies.
The companies are accused of slamming consumers, which means the companies switched the consumers’ long distance carriers without authorization, and cramming customers, meaning the carriers added unauthorized charges to consumers’ bills. Federal regulators also says the companies “fabricated audio recordings that they then submitted to the FCC as ‘proof’ the consumers authorized these changes and charges.”
“Charging consumers for services they did not want or authorize is simply unacceptable,” Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said. “We are committed to combating slamming and cramming because these unjust and unreasonable practices result in consumers paying for services they never requested or received, and spending their time trying to reverse unauthorized carrier charges.”
The FCC tallied more than 140 complaints against the companies. According to the regulator, “Some consumers alleged that the companies’ telemarketers pretended to be from the post office calling about a nonexistent package delivery to obtain information to create fake consumer authorization recordings. In other cases, it appears the companies impersonated individuals in the authorization recordings. The companies then allegedly provided the fake authorizations to the FCC in response to its investigation into the consumer complaints.”
The regulator body has classified the long-distance carriers’ practices as “unjust and unreasonable” per the Communications Act. Further, the fake consumer authorizations violate applicable federal laws.
2014 was a banner year in its enforcement of cramming violations.
Sprint that year was fined more than $100 million for the practice while AT&T Mobility was also fined $105 million for adding unauthorized charges.
