a rose by any other name
Why is is called cramming? Wouldn't most people just call it fraud?
US mobile carrier Sprint should expect a hefty fine from the Federal Communications Commission for overbilling its customers, say sources with knowledge of the agency's plans. As first reported by the National Review, the FCC is preparing to vote on action to be taken against Sprint over its role in "cramming" – the practice …
I don't think so. The unethical side of this business is too lucrative. Perhaps a case could be made against investors for being complicit and maybe some of them incarcerated too? .... Nah. That wouldn't do it either. However, if the government started practising forfeiture of money or assets gained through the proceeds of crime, then we might get somewhere.
the penalty needs to outweigh the potential gain.
make those defrauded/over-charged or whatever whole again plus a percentage (10% - 110%) for harm done. couple that with corporate fines plus potential personal fines and jail time for where-ever the buck stops, be it the CFO who approved the loophole or the board who encouraged "creative accounting"
if the risk far outstrips the reward (and the changes of being caught are significantly higher than today) then they'll play nice (or get even more creative!)
If you can steal $300 Million annually and only be forced to give back $105 Million once, most people can understand that crime/cramming pays quite well. Until they fine companies triple revenues for the time period and send all of the executive level management to prison for 5+ years, this illegal practice of consumer fraud will continue. Ask Microsucks how profitable consumer fraud can be.
Back in the day (80's or 90's) my employer's Telcom manager caught them loading up our bill with bogus long-distance charges. I guess they hadn't noticed that some of the new PBXs logged all calls.
Of course, they promptly removed the offending charges. I still have to wonder what happened to other customers with less-paranoid managers.