Governor Signs Law Against Unfair Phone Charges

A phone bill scamming practice known as “cramming” will no longer be allowed under legislation signed into law in Illinois this week. McHenry County State Rep. Mike Tryon, a co-sponsor, said the new law makes it illegal for third party vendors to bill consumers for goods or services on their phone bills.

According to Tryon, the charges are often unwanted or the result of consumers who not didn't really understand the services they signed up for. “Too often vendors fail to tell consumers about all of the fine print associated with their services, and a ‘free trial offer’ turns into a vague monthly fee on phone bills,” Tryon said. "This new law should address a great deal of this practice.”

The law backs up 30 recent Illinois Attorney General’s Office lawsuits alleging crammers added charges to phone bills for bogus products or services like identity theft protection, website design or email service that consumers and businesses never requested and never used.

Illinois' Citizen's Utility Board warned the job's only half-done, though, since the new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, only applies to wired phones. “Chased away from landlines, crammers will now inevitably shift their multi-million dollar business to wireless phones,” warned a recent CUB statement.