U.S. Court Stops Alleged Cramming Operation
A federal court has halted the operations of a group of firms that crammed unauthorized charges for Web site services onto the phone bills of hundreds of thousands of small businesses and nonprofit organizations, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Named as defendants were: WebSource Media L.L.C.; WebSource Media, L.P.; BizSitePro L.L.C.; Eversites L.L.C., Telsource Solutions Inc.; Telsource International Inc.; Marc R. Smith; Kathleen A. Smalley; Keith Hendrick; Steven L Kennedy; John O. Ring, and James E. McCubbin, Jr.
Following a trial, U.S. Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston ordered the defendants to halt the unlawful practices and give up more than $4.1 million in proceeds, according to the FTC.
The FTC charged the defendants in 2006 with cramming unauthorized charges onto the phone bills for Web site services that, in many cases, the victims had not requested and did not know they had.
The agency alleged that the operators used telemarketers to make cold calls to prospects, and offered a
