“CRAMMING”
The practice of placing charges on your telephone bill 
for unauthorized products or services
           15  TO  20  MILLION
Number of American households estimated 
to receive crammed charges on their wireline 
bills each year.
3
0.1%
UsAGe RATe
1. FCC complaint data 2008-2010
2. Expert Marylander survey conducted for Federal Trade Commission case
3. FCC projection based on Expert Marylander survey and California data
4. FCC Enforcement Bureau
CAses by Type Of phONe seRvICe:
Cramming is one of the most common landline billing complaints 
handled by the FCC, after the general category of billing adjustments 
and refunds.
1
Wireline Wireless
2% Other (e.g., VOIP)
82% 16%
WhAT DO CONsUMeRs 
eXpeRIeNCe?
CONsUMeR AWAReNess:
Only one out of 20 victims of cramming may be aware of cramming charges.
2
One FCC investigation found only 20 of 17,384 
consumers used the third-party service they 
were billed for. Another found that just 22 of 
18,571 consumers charged for dial-around 
long distance actually used the service. Usage 
in both cases: roughly 0.1 percent.
Range of cramming charges from a single 
vendor per month.
4
 These charges can go 
undetected indefinitely.
Charges sometimes appear as “service 
fee,” “service charge,” “other fees,” 
“voicemail,” “mail server,” “calling plan” 
or “membership,” and may be cramming if 
they were unauthorized or if the cost was 
misrepresented.
$1.99
$19.99