Nurse loves CUB but can't stand 'cramming'
June 4, 2009—Dorothy Denton discovered that her telephone bill had a mysterious charge called “enhancement service.” After trying for months to remove the $13-$16 fee, she had a new name for it: “Fraud with a capital F!”

CUB told the Oak Lawn nurse about a scam called “cramming”--when charges are added to phone bills for services consumers didn’t order. In Denton’s case, and many others, the actual service came from another company, separate from the phone company.
Call your phone company to block unauthorized third-party charges for free:

AT&T 1-800-288-2020

Verizon 1-800-483-3000


“You have no idea how angry I was,” said Denton, who still doesn’t exactly know what the charge was for. “With everything going on with our politicians, here’s yet another company lining their pockets with our money.”

Denton, who was featured in an investigative report on cramming by CBS 2 Chicago, refused to pay the charge. She called her phone company, AT&T, one more time, informed it she had contacted CUB, and said she was going to file a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General’s office if the charge wasn’t removed once and for all. That did the trick.

Calling herself CUB’s biggest fan, Denton worries about seniors who don’t look at their bills. “How many of them are still being scammed?”

Third parties are allowed to use the phone bill to charge for services. Under deregulation of the telephone industry, that’s been done for years to encourage competition. Unfortunately, it’s also encouraged cramming, which works like this:

Victims get a telemarketing call or junk mail. Maybe they call a 1-800 number or visit a Web site that offers a “free” service or entry in a sweepstakes. Maybe they don’t do anything. Suddenly, their phone bill has a vaguely named charge, such as “voice mail” or “membership fee,” usually stuck on the last page of the bill.

Cramming is so lucrative that the infamous Gambino crime family allegedly made hundreds of millions of dollars off it. Illinois recently sued a “credit-repair service,” accusing it of cramming thousands of customers with a $9.99 fee, including a local police department and a public library’s “dial-a-story” telephone line. Even Rep. John Bradley of Marion, the anti-rate hike crusader who’s no stranger to fighting shady business practices, complained to CUB about $30 in charges for services he had never ordered.

Since then, CUB has worked closely with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and chief sponsors, state Sen. Michael Bond and state Rep. John Bradley, to pass legislation to better protect consumers against cramming. CUB has called on phone companies to set up security systems similar to credit card companies that flag suspicious charges.

Still, reading the monthly phone bill carefully is the best cramming defense.

What if I'm crammed?


Call the cramming company at the number listed on your bill.


Call the local phone company. Tell it you’re disputing the charge and you’re only paying for your regular calling fees - the undisputed part of your bill. Make sure you agree what that undisputed amount is. Record the time of the call and the full name of the person you talk to.


If the cramming company doesn’t agree to lift the charge, file a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General’s office. Keep one copy for yourself and send the other to the cramming company.


If you pay your regular calling charges, the phone company will send the questionable fee back to the alleged crammer, forcing it to prove the charge was authorized.


You can block future third-party charges for free. Just call your local phone company (AT&T, 1-800-288-2020; Verizon, 1-800-483-3000).


Remember to read CUB’s cramming fact sheet.