Cramming

Cramming used to be a practice used by college students to study for their exams. Now it is a term for a form of fraud.

"Cramming" is when third party companies slip unauthorized charges into phone bills hoping that no one will notice. Because the bills are larger, small businesses are more susceptible. In fact, we discovered that an unauthorized charge was on our bill for $16 per month. Multiply by tens of thousands and someone is making a fortune! At consumers' expense.

This is also another good reason not to have bills paid by automatic deduction from your account along with online bills. Having a paper bill in my hand allowed me to see the charge clearly.
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12:08 PM

We looked at other charges and found another $8 of illegal charges for a total of $24 per month. Keep in mind, these are hidden in a small business phone bill of more than $150 per month. Yet, taking $24 per month and multiply it by tens of thousands. Wow.

Verizon gave us some hints as to prevent this:
* Do NOT answer the phone with your name. That gives the caller too much information.
* If the caller asks, "Is this so-and-so?" do NOT say "yes". The caller then has a possibly recorded "yes" in your voice that they can use for any purpose. instead respond with "How can I help you?"
* If you receive a call asking you about a service, do talk at length with the caller in case they are recording your voice. Say a very short phrase such as "delete my phone number."