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TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has reached a settlement with an eleventh prepaid calling card company, closely following a settlement with ten other prepaid and long distance phone card companies announced in June and July. Cinco Telecom Corp., which does business as Orbitel, is a Florida telecommunications service provider of international prepaid calling cards. The company resolved concerns about its business practices and will reimburse the state for the cost of the investigation.

The Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division launched an investigation in July 2007 after receiving more than 200 complaints about the industry’s practices. Prior to the investigation, consumers complained that companies within the industry often utilized hidden or inadequately disclosed fees and charges such as “hang-up fees,” periodic maintenance fees and destination surcharges.

The investigation revealed that Orbitel’s business practices had minor discrepancies in its advertisements and, most importantly, its cards were proven to contain accurate disclosures of information and all available minutes that are advertised. Orbitel cooperated fully throughout the investigation. As with the ten other companies which previously settled with the Attorney General’s Office, Orbitel must submit to three years of auditing to ensure that it is following the terms of the agreement.

In June, the Attorney General’s Office reached similar agreements with IDT America, Corp.; Union Telecom Alliance LLC (UTA); Total Call International, Inc.; Blackstone Calling Card, Inc.; CVT Prepaid Solutions, Inc.; Dollar Phone Enterprise, Inc.; STi Prepaid, LLC; Alternatel, Inc; and Cristel Telecom, LLC. The office settled with Touch-Tel USA, LLC in July. Some investigations are still ongoing and consumers affected by these or other practices may file a complaint by visiting the Attorney General’s website at http://www.myfloridalegal.com or calling the fraud hotline at 1-866-966-7226.

Examples of the previous advertisements are available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-7FHGJ8/$file/orbitelFINAL.pdf