Spotlight: GTE to Take Action Against ‘Cramming’ Fraud

GTE Corp. said it will initiate wide-reaching policies designed to prevent unauthorized charges from appearing on customers’ phone bills. In the next seven months, the San Francisco-based company will phase in changes that it hopes will stem “cramming”--phony charges for services such as voicemail and paging that often go unnoticed. In the last year alone, cramming has become the nation’s No. 1 form of consumer fraud. GTE’s policy changes include redesigning bills, among others.