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Cramming (fraud)
Cramming is a form of fraud in which small charges are added to a bill by a third party without the subscriber's consent, approval, authorization or disclosure. These may be disguised as a tax, some other common fee or a bogus service, and may be several dollars or even just a few cents. The crammer's intent is that the subscriber will overlook and ultimately pay these small charges without challenging their legitimacy or inquiring further. According to the U.S. National Association of Attorneys General, cramming was the 4th most common consumer complaint of 2007 in the United States. Types There are various forms of cramming. Phone cramming Phone cramming is the practice of placing unauthorized charges on a telecommunication subscriber's home or mobile telephone bill. Cramming is most common in the US, where the breakup of the Bell System left subscribers with different vendors for local and long-distance service. LEC billing consolidated charges from multiple vendors on on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fraud
In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation) or criminal law (e.g., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities), or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, such as obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's licence. In cases of mortgage fraud, the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements. Terminology Fraud can be defined as either a civil wrong or a criminal act. For civil fraud, a government agency or person or entity harmed by fraud may bring litigation to stop the fraud, seek monetary damages, or both. For cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telecommunications Companies
A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many traditional solely telephone companies now function as internet service providers (ISPs), and the distinction between a telephone company and ISP has tended to disappear completely over time, as the current trend for supplier convergence in the industry develops. Additionally, with advances in technology development, other traditional separate industries such as cable television, Voice-over IP (VoIP), and satellite providers offer similar competing features as the telephone companies to both residential and businesses leading to further evolution of corporate identity have taken shape. Due to the nature of capital expenditure involved in the past, most telecommunications companies were government owned agencies or privately-owned monopo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Fraud
Internet fraud is a type of cybercrime fraud or deception which makes use of the Internet and could involve hiding of information or providing incorrect information for the purpose of tricking victims out of money, property, and inheritance. Internet fraud is not considered a single, distinctive crime but covers a range of illegal and illicit actions that are committed in cyberspace. It is differentiated from theft since, in this case, the victim voluntarily and knowingly provides the information, money or property to the perpetrator. It is also distinguished by the way it involves temporally and spatially separated offenders. The most common cybercrimes involving the internet fraud increasingly entail the Social engineering (security), social engineering, phishing, Cryptocurrency and crime, cryptocurrency frauds, romance scams including the pig butchering scam, etc In the FBI's 2017 Internet Crime Report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received about 300,000 complaints. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consumer Fraud
Consumer fraud are deceptive practices which result in financial losses of consumers. Common fraudulent tactics include false promises and inaccurate claims, as well as outright cheating. Types of consumer fraud The United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gives an advice on the fraud related to currency: * Advance fee fraud ** Debt elimination fraud ** Nigerian fraud * Cashier's check fraud * Fictitious banking * High yield investment fraud *Personal data fraud; may result in credit or debit card fraud **Identity theft **Phishing Other types of consumer fraud include: * Bait-and-switch *Bank fraud *Counterfeit consumer goods * Pharma fraud **COVID 19 fraud *"Snake oil" fraud Legislation United States The Bureau of Consumer Protection of the United States Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mail And Wire Fraud
Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. federal crimes. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity crosses interstate or international borders. Mail fraud Mail fraud was first defined in the United States in 1872. provides: Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, or to sell, dispose of, loan, exchange, alter, give away, distribute, supply, or furnish or procure for unlawful use any counterfeit or spurious coin, obligation, security, or other article, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be such counterfeit or spurious article, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Message Service
Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, typically transmitted over cellular networks. Developed as part of the GSM standards, and based on the SS7 signalling protocol, SMS rolled out on digital cellular networks starting in 1993 and was originally intended for customers to receive alerts from their carrier/operator. The service allows users to send and receive text messages of up to 160 characters, originally to and from GSM phones and later also CDMA and Digital AMPS; it has since been defined and supported on newer networks, including present-day 5G ones. Using SMS gateways, messages can be transmitted over the Internet through an SMSC, allowing communication to computers, fixed landlines, and satellite. MMS was later introduced as an upgrade to SMS with "picture mess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AT&T Mobility
AT&T Mobility, LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and Trade name, marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. Formed in April 2000 as Cingular Wireless LLC, It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, AT&T Inc. and provides Wireless, wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the List of mobile network operators in the United States, third largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 118 million subscribers as of March 31, 2025. The company is headquartered in Brookhaven, Georgia. Originally known as Cingular Wireless (a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth) from 2000 to 2007, the company acquired the old AT&T Wireless Services, AT&T Wireless in 2004; SBC later acquired AT&T Corporation, the original AT&T and adopted its name. Cingular became wholly owned by AT&T in December 2006 as a result of AT&T's Mergers and acquisitions, acquisition of BellSouth. In January 2007, Cingular confirmed it would rebrand itself under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvatore LoCascio
Salvatore LoCascio (born July 21, 1958) is a reputed former caporegime in the New York Gambino crime family. His father, Frank LoCascio, was the acting underboss (1988-1990), and acting consigliere (1990-1992) for John Gotti. Early life LoCascio grew up in Eastchester, New York. In 1985, with $115,000 that he received from wedding gifts he started his own business, Creative Program Communications, Incorporated with a few friends. The Scores case In 1998, LoCascio and Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo were arrested for attempting to extort money from Scores, a famous upscale strip club in Manhattan. However, the case against LoCascio was weak, so prosecutors offered to drop the charges. In return, LoCascio pleaded guilty to tax evasion for deriving income from illegal gambling. He was sentenced to ten months, part of which was home arrest, and a $1.5 million fine. At the time of his plea, Locascio ran numerous 900 number phone services, from psychic hot lines to sports sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caporegime
A ''caporegime'' or ''capodecina'', usually shortened to ''capo'' or informally referred to as "captain", "skipper" or "lieutenant", is a leadership position in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia). A ''capo'' is a "made man, made member" of an Italian crime family who heads a ''regime'' or "crew" of soldato, soldiers and has major status and influence in the organization. ''Caporegime'' is an Italian word, used to signify the head of a family in Sicily. In general, the term indicates the head of a branch of an organized crime syndicate who commands a crew of soldiers and reports directly to the don (Crime boss, boss) or an underboss or street boss. The shortened version "''capo''" has also been used to refer to certain high-ranking members of Latin American drug cartels. Sources * Capeci, Jerry. ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia''. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. . * Pistone, Joseph D. ''Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia''. Pan Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Martino
Richard Martino (born 1961) is a member of the New York Gambino crime family who was involved in Internet and phone scams that cost consumers $750 million. Martino introduced the Cosa Nostra into this area of crime. Biography A major earner for the Gambino family, Martino owned expensive homes in Harrison, New York and Southampton, New York, wore Prada shoes, and drove a Mercedes-Benz car. Martino and Gambino capo Salvatore LoCascio created what appeared to be a pornography website. Like many such sites, visitors could tour it for free by providing credit card numbers to confirm they were adults. This concept originated from a cousin of Martino's who had created a course for men, instructing them "how to pick up girls." However, Martino and LoCascio then charged the visitors an unauthorized monthly website subscription. This scam cost consumers approximately $230 million. In a different scam, Martino and Locascio created a " cramming" scheme that sent bills to customer phone co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soldato
A soldato or soldier is the first official level of both the Sicilian Mafia and the Italian-American Mafia in the formal Mafia hierarchy. It is also commonly used as a rank in other Italian criminal organizations, such as the 'Ndrangheta and Camorra. The promotion to the rank of soldier is an elevation in the chain of command from the associate level. The associate, who is not an initiated member of the Mafia, must prove himself to the family and take the oath of Omertà in order to become an initiated made man and therefore rise to the rank of soldato. Picciotto (plural: ''picciotti'') is often used to refer to a lower-level mafioso or soldato, but it usually indicates a younger, inexperienced soldato and may even be used loosely to refer to a closely connected, up-and-coming associate who is not necessarily a made man yet (and therefore not yet officially a "soldato"). "Picciotti" usually perform simple tasks such as beatings, money collection, robbery, kidnappings and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
