FTC Files Amended Complaint in Matter of Nationwide Connections, Inc.

Commission approval of amended complaint: The Commission has approved the filing of an amended complaint in the matter concerning Nationwide Connections, Inc. The original complaint, filed in March 2006, alleged the defendants collected more than $25 million in fraudulent collect call fees by “cramming” fake charges onto consumers’ phone bills. The amended complaint adds BSG Clearing Solutions North America, LLC; ACI Billing Services, Inc. d/b/a OAN; Billing Concepts, Inc.; and The Billing Resource d/b/a Integretel as additional defendants in this case. The new defendants are the billing aggregators that the Nationwide defendants allegedly used to bill consumers for the collect calls that were never accepted or made.

The vote approving the amended complaint was 5-0. (FTC File No. X060028; the contact is the Office of Public Affairs, 202-326-2180; see press release dated March 15, 2006.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

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