Phone scam defense starts at home

April 21, 2006

SPECTRUM/Harry Yost

So, another installment in the continuing saga of the telephone/ Internet cramming scam.

To date, I have traced the operation to one organization - an Internet company called Total I Protect, which, among many other operations, supplies for a fee, protection from Internet scams.

When contacted by the Alaska attorney general's consumer protection office, the firm Integretel supplied a form I supposedly had filled out requesting an &#8220800” call-forwarding service. (I hadn't.) Again, according to them, I had entered a &#8220drawing” for a &#8220free” $500 gift card. (Again, I hadn't.) After filing the complaint with the AG's office, I filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, which also contacted Integretel. The people at Integretel responded to both queries by giving them the above form from Total I Protect. So far, so good?

When the FCC people found out the problem originated with an Internet company, they advised us we would have to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It seems Congress, in its infinite wisdom, limited the FCC to telephone and broadcasting operations.

The Internet is the domain of the FTC. The FTC has a Web site, complete with an online complaint form, which I duly filled out. As of this writing, the only response has been to acknowledge the complaint.

By the way, efforts to contact Total I Protect have been met with frustration. While they have extensive Internet connections, they don't seem to have an address to contact with complaints.

They stated &#8220the charges had been rescinded” when I sent a complaint to the Internet address on the form I supposedly filled out. No further information was forthcoming.

According to the FCC fact sheet sent to us along with the formal complaint form, &#8220cramming”, i.e., the practice of adding unauthorized charges to a telephone bill, is a violation of the law. In plain language, a crime. But after talking to our local telephone provider's consumer relations people and other parties who had their telephone bills crammed, it seems there is no violation if the crammer immediately removes the charges and doesn't try to collect.

Something is missing here. If someone &#8220borrows” your car from your driveway and rides around in it for several hours, then returns it to your driveway, he's still guilty of a crime. As the intent appears to be to defraud, it would seem to follow a crime was committed. We'll see what the FTC says about that.

In wandering around the Internet searching for more information about my experience, I came across another layer of government agencies that seem to be involved with this kind of crime. Both are under the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They are The National Infrastructure Protection Center and The Internet Crime Complaint Center. I filled out an online complaint form with the latter and they acknowledged receiving it. (Hurry up and wait, second verse!)

The first and last line of defense from getting crammed on our telephone bills is ourselves. Take the time to look at each charge on your statement, and immediately contact your telephone provider about any items you have a question about.

Get the charge removed, if possible, and if you can't get it removed, let them know you are paying under protest. (Don't refuse to pay, as that may cause the telephone company to disconnect you.)

Contact the Alaska Attorney General's consumer complaint office and file a written complaint with them. (Call 907-269-5100 for a complaint form.) Follow up with a written complaint to the FCC, Enforcement Bureau, Investigation and Hearing Division, 445 12th St. SW, Washington, D.C. 20554. These three steps will at least alert &#8220the authorities” to a possible problem.

FCC &#8220Truth In Billing Rules” may apply to your local telephone utility as well. These rules require a telephone company to make their bills &#8220consumer friendly.”

Bills should help you to determine the who, what and why of the charges on your bill. The bill also should con-tain a toll-free number for you to call if you have any questions.

The FCC suggests a four-question review of your monthly telephone bill:

1- Do I recognize the names of all the companies listed. (We didn't.)

2- What services were provided by the companies? (We couldn't figure that out from the information provided, either!)

3- Are there charges for calls I didn't make or services I didn't authorize?

4- Are the rates consistent with the rates quoted?

Don't just pay your telephone bill without closely reviewing it. You are your best defense against cramming.

Palmer resident Harry Yost is a regular contributor to these pages. His Valley Voices guest opinion column appears every fourth Sunday.