Recently, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Senate have all taken aim at "cramming," a multibillion dollar industry that cheats phone customers by adding bogus fees to their bills. But the groundwork for this massive swindle -- which affects an estimated 17% of all households -- began with the much-ballyhooed breakup of AT&T (T).

Now, almost 30 years after the Justice Department unwittingly opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of fraudsters, several other government organizations are trying to close them.