The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC or Commission) Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) has proposed a $9 million penalty against GPSPS, Inc., a Georgia telephone company. The proposed penalty is for switching consumers’ preferred long distance carriers without their authorization (commonly known as “slamming”), billing unauthorized or “crammed” charges for long distance on consumers’ telephone bills, and submitting falsified evidence to government regulatory officials as “proof” that consumers had authorized the company to switch their long distance providers. The Commission has taken nearly 30 enforcement actions for cramming or slamming in the past five years which amounted to more than $90 million in penalties.
