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FCC fines for false caller i.d.
FCC issues $100 Million Dollar fine to Straightpath Communications.
$11 Million Fine for being assholes !
FCC FINES COMPANIES $11 MILLION FOR UNAUTHORIZED CHARGES ON CONSUMER BILLS,
DECEPTIVE MARKETING, AND ILLEGAL CARRIER CHANGES
Companies Impersonated Consumers’ Existing Carriers
September 15, 2016 – The Federal Communications Commission today announced $11
million in fines against three related long distance carriers for “cramming”
unauthorized charges onto consumer telephone bills, “slamming” consumers by
switching their preferred phone carriers without authorization, deceptive
marketing, and violating the FCC’s truth-in-billing rules. The companies,
Central Telecom Long Distance, Consumer Telcom, and U.S. Telecom Long Distance,
are run as one operation by Data Integration Systems, Inc. The FCC is
committed to combating abusive practices that result in telephone consumers
paying for services they never requested or received and expending significant
time and effort to seek to reverse the unauthorized charges and services.
“This isn’t rocket science: no consumer should be charged for phone services
that they canceled or never requested in the first place,” said Enforcement
Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc. “Today’s fines make clear that we will
aggressively prosecute those who ‘slam,’ ‘cram,’ or otherwise abuse consumers by
unlawfully charging them for services they didn’t want or request.”
During this investigation, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau reviewed over 260
consumer complaints about the three California-based companies. Many of
the complaints were submitted by or on behalf of consumers who had neither heard
of the companies nor intended to sign up for their services.
Operating as a single enterprise, the companies’ telemarketers falsely claimed
that they were calling on behalf of consumers’ real telephone carriers about a
change in existing service. The companies then misused consumers’ answers to
switch their long distance carriers to one of the companies. When
customers realized what had occurred and returned to their preferred carriers,
these companies continued to charge consumers a recurring monthly fee. The
companies also failed to clearly and plainly describe the charges included in
their customer bills, as required by the FCC’s rules.
The fines, formally known as Forfeiture Orders, are available at:
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-16-122A1.pdf
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-16-123A1.pdf
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-16-124A1.pdf
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