There’s slamming, there’s cramming, and now there’s another kind of telephone billing scam known as call splashing.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, call splashing happens when you make a call from a pay phone or a hotel phone and try to use your long distance provider. Instead of connecting directly to your telephone company, your call may be routed to a distant call center before it finally reaches your carrier.

This results in an expensive phone call, much higher than you would pay if connected directly to your own company. Sometimes you are billed as though you have made two calls instead of the one you placed.

In order to avoid call splashing, you should listen carefully to everything the operator says and examine your phone bill closely each month.

If it happens to you contact the Federal Communications Commission.