In one of the most egregious cases in memory, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed that an Atlanta, GA telephone company pay a penalty of more than $9 million for illegally switching consumers’ long distance telephone services (“slamming”) and billing them for unauthorized charges (“cramming”).
According to a Notice of Apparent Liability issued by the Commission in February, 2014, telecom company GPSPS, Inc. not only slammed and crammed customers, but also created fake audio recordings of conversations in which consumers allegedly authorized a change of service. When responding to inquiries regarding the more than 150 complaints that had been filed with the Commission, GPSPS brazenly submitted the fake “verification” recordings as evidence. However, this strategy quickly unraveled when multiple consumers who listened to the recordings denounced them as fabrications.
Read the complete text of the Commission’s Notice of Apparent Liability.
