Telephony Fraudster Gets Lifetime Ban from Telecom Business

coondoggie passed us another NetworkWorld link, this one discussing the banning of a shady telecom tycoon convicted for 'cramming'. "The owner of three companies that billed more than $30 million in bogus collect call charges, an activity known as cramming, to millions of consumers throughout the country, has been banned forever from all billing on local telephone bills. Willoughby Farr agreed to the lifetime ban as part of a federal court order settling Federal Trade Commission charges that he directed a massive unauthorized billing scam for more than two and a half years. The settlement contains a monetary judgment of $34,547,140, which will be partially satisfied by Farr's transfer to the Commission of all but $7,500 of his frozen assets, the FTC said."

Comments

Re:Why not the death penalty?

[geekoid]

First off, nobody gets killed for fraud, not should they.
Second, there is no reason to spend more money locking him up for this on convictions.
Third, it's three convictions, not crimes.
Forth, no individual crime is worth prosecuting them individually.

"Simple. Fair. Proportional."
It's none of those.

Re:Why is this legal?

[tompaulco]

I once had a bogus charge on my local bill. It was for a sports hotline. I have not interest in sports, so obviously did not call it. I called and complained to the phone company, who said they could not remove the charge (why not. you put it there.) They said I had to call the company directly. Why? I have no relationship with them. So I called them and they said that basically computers don't make mistakes and if it says I called then I called. I told them I wouldn't pay, and they said that they would put it on my credit record and give it to a collections bureau. So essentially, any company can put a charge on your phone line and without proof demand payment, and if you don't pay it, they will ruin your credit.
The landlines are bad, but the cell phones are worse, because they don't see any problem sending text messages to kids, and if the kid sends a message back then they are signed up for monthly recurring charges, even though they are underage and can't enter into a contract. I think it should be illegal for a third party to bill through the phone company , whether land based or cell based.