Clark Howard's Tips

May 23, 2008

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 question 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!

Consumer advice courtesy of