Cell phone companies revive The Cram

Cell phone companies revive The Cram
There's something brewing right now that Clark considers akin to a
national scandal. The cell phone companies are in cahoots with rip-off
artists and they're stealing your money. Here's the background: Do you
recall back in the landline days when people were falling victim to
"The Cram"? Phone companies would bill them for fake charges
attributed to a "marketing" company. These bogus fees would pop up on
a page of unregulated charges on a monthly bill. The phone companies
would get a cut of the action when they teamed up with these 3rd party
aggregators who initiated the charges. Many people would pay year
after year without questioning because they were so confused by their
bills.

Now this same garbage is popping up with cell phones. The cell
carriers are doing courtesy billing for 3rd party crooks that push a
variety of messaging services. And of course they're getting a cut of
the money once again. People are getting burned in 2 ways, actually,
because cell companies are also raising the cost of text messaging.
This is a virtually free transaction for them, yet they're raising
rates to as high as 20 cents/text message. People are being billed for
messaging services they never signed up for. For example, Clark is
getting spam text messages ads. The cell carriers love this --
especially if you're not on an unlimited texting plan -- because every
spam message is more money for them. If the history of "The Cram" is
any indication, the FCC probably won't get involved for several more
years. So you must take the responsibility of reviewing your cellular
statement page by page every month. Many people just get their bill
charged to their credit card every month and never see a statement.
Don't be one of them! Get a paper statement and scrutinize it. This is
war. They think they can get away with stealing your money, but they
can only do so if you allow it.

http://clarkhoward.com/shownotes/2008/01/28/#13162