FTC Puts $1.9M Kink in Phone Bill Crammer's Wallet

coondoggie writes to mention that the three largest companies in the billing aggregation market have been hit with a $1.9 million fine in response to the more than $30 million in bogus charges added to consumer's bills. The ringleader of the scam however, Willoughby Farr of Nationwide Connections, has been hit with $35 million and a lifetime ban. "Today's settlement would prohibit the companies from misrepresenting that consumers are obligated to pay for telecommunications charges that have not been expressly authorized. It also would be barred from billing or submitting any telecommunications charges for billing on a consumer's telephone bill unless such charge has been expressly authorized. [...] The FTC still has a case pending against other principals in this case: Yaret Garcia, Erika Riaboukha, and Qaadir Kaid. One other defendant Mary Lou Farr, has already settled with the FTC."

Re:What about Telcos?

[tompaulco]

The telcos willingly pass through the charges to you because they receive about 1/3 of the revenue. The telcos need to be punished as well. They basically want to act like a credit card which always gives the benefit of the doubt to the company that put the charge on the bill. I say, if they want to be like a credit card, then they need to abide by the regulations of the credit industry. In the credit industry, if you question a charge, they immediately place it into a suspect status, and you don't have to pay it until it is resolved. With the telcos, if you call and question it, they give you the runaround, and even if they do agree to investigate, you still have to pay the charge until they make their decision on the charge, and if you don't then they will cancel your phone service and report you to the credit bureaus and collection agencies.