| There're quite a few phone scams out there that could cost you money. Being aware of these illegal practices will help you avoid becoming a victim.
Cramming
Cramming is the scam of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill. Entities that fraudulently cram people appear to rely largely on confusing telephone bills in order to mislead consumers into paying for services that they did not authorize or receive.
Phone slamming
Slamming is the illegal practice of changing a consumer's telephone service without permission. New consumer protection rules created by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) provide a remedy if you've been slammed.
The 9 - 0 - # scam
The old phone scam involving the 9-0-# buttons on your business telephone is still around. The scam means enabling someone to place calls that are billed to your office telephone number.
Predictive dialing
Here's what happens: the phone rings and when the person receiving the call picks up the
phone, he or she is met with silence or the "click" of the calling party disconnecting the call.
Internet modem switch scam
Getting billed for international calls when using local (domestic) Internet service providers to access web sites.
Careless dialing
Be careful when placing collect or other operator-assisted calls, or you or the party you're calling may wind up paying more than you expected.
Cell phone fraud
Cellular fraud (cell fraud) is defined as the unauthorized use, tampering, or manipulation of a cellular phone or service.
Mexico collect call scam
This scam originates in Mexico and seems to be prevalent in Spanish-speaking communities in California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. The scam is targeted at Spanish-surnamed consumers.
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