Engel targets phone-card fraud
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- September
- 26
The House of Representatives yesterday passed Rep. Eliot Engel’s bill requiring companies to clearly explain the terms, conditions and fees in their advertising.
“The measure is designed to protect our consumers, specifically our poorest ones, who are most often targets of this type of fraud,†Engel said. His district covers parts of the Bronx, Westchester and Rockland counties.
Among the problem practices: Companies deduct minutes even if the call is not connected; cut off calls in order to trigger another connection charge, and round up the minutes used in 4-minute increments, his office said. Engel pointed to Hispanic Institute study that found callers received only 60 percent of the minutes they were promised, on average.
“An egregious example shows one company advertising in Spanish but keeping the fine print in English,†he said, citing a BusinessWeek article. “Their ‘but we’re in America’ excuse doesn’t forgive them for targeting immigrants to make an easy buck.â€
The bill is known as the Calling Card Consumer Protection Act, H.R.-3402. The companion bill being considered in the Senate is S-2998.
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on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 11:43 am by Leah Rae.
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