The Federal Communications Commission has fined six companies a combined $30 million for deceptively marketing prepaid calling cards. FCC said that the companies falsely advertised that their low-cost prepaid calling cards could allow consumers far more calling minutes than were in fact being sold.

Locus Telecommunications, Inc.; Lyca Tel, LLC; NobelTel, LLC; Simple Network, Inc.; STi Telecom Inc.; and Touch-Tel USA, LLC were each fined $5 million for deceptively marketing prepaid calling cards to consumers.
The companies targeted advertising to immigrant consumers promising that the prepaid calling cards, which cost only a few dollars, could be used for hundreds or thousands of minutes in international phone calls. In fact, for that price, the consumers would be able to use only a fraction of the promised minutes due to the companies’assessment of multiple fees and surcharges that were not clearly and conspicuously disclosed to
consumers.

Prepaid calling cards are frequently marketed to immigrant communities for calling a variety of international destinations. The cards are typically sold in denominations of $2, $3, and $5 at newsstands and in grocery and convenience stores.