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Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: MCI WorldCom Communications, Inc.
Current Parent Company: Verizon Communications
Parent at the Time of the Penalty Announcement:  subscribe to see this data field
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Penalty: $8,500,000
Year: 2002
Date: March 7, 2002
Offense Group: consumer-protection-related offenses
Primary Offense: telecommunications violation
Violation Description: MCI agreed to pay $8.5 million to resolve state allegations that it routinely engaged in "slamming," or changing long-distance service providers without permission or through deception, and "cramming," which involves billing for add-on services the consumers have not authorized. The investigation also found that the company continued charging consumers after they canceled their MCI service and hid the actual costs of services it advertised.
Level of Government: state
Action Type: agency action
Agency: California Attorney General
Civil or Criminal Case: civil
Facility State: California
HQ Country of Current Parent: USA
HQ State of Current Parent: New York
Ownership Structure of Current Parent: publicly traded
Major Industry of Current Parent: telecommunications
Specific Industry of Current Parent: telecommunications
Source of Data: (click here)
Source Notes: If an online information source is not working, check the Violation Tracker Data Sources page for an updated link.
Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.