BBB warning: Scrutinize bills

Some of the bogus charges appear on people's phone bills.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Better Business Bureau system has issued a national alert advising consumers and businesses not to let the holiday rush prevent them from scrutinizing their billing statements and invoices.
Ken Hunter, president and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, warned, "Unscrupulous merchants may take advantage of this hectic time to attempt to cram bogus charges onto your telephone bills or credit-card statements. We are advising consumers and businesses alike to routinely check all invoices and statements for unauthorized charges, now and at any other time of the year."
For several weeks now, Better Business Bureaus around the country have been fielding complaints about a firm that appears to be engaged in bogus billing practices in relation to long-distance Internet calls and pay-per-view Web site access.
"The disputed charges range from $30 to $1,000," said John Riggins of the BBB in Fort Worth, Texas. This company is called Premier Premium Communications. Some of the charges appeared on people's local phone bills; other people were billed directly by PPC.
The FCC has stated to the BBB that this is not the way such services are billed. They advise that the billing service should ask for a means of payment up front before the Web site is accessed.
Tips
To avoid being victimized by dialing scams, modem highjacking and other types of billing scams, the BBB is advising consumers and businesses to:
UBe alert to invoices from this company or any other business with whom you are not familiar;
UCheck for unauthorized calls to the United Kingdom or other countries that may appear on your phone bill;
UBe careful when responding to any pop-up advertisement that appears when you are on the Internet; by answering yes to such ads, you may unwittingly cause dialer software to download onto your computer.
If consumers do identify bogus charges on their telephone bill, they should contact their service provider immediately to dispute the charge. If an invoice is received for a product or service that was not ordered, the sender should be contacted immediately.