Already this month, Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers' office has received more than two dozen complaints about the company, and more are coming in daily.

High-toned name notwithstanding, Premier is pulling a pretty low-rent scam on Web-surfers nationwide, according to Jan Margosian, a spokesperson for the AG's consumer-rights section.

Margosian says the scam works like this: Your average Joe (and it's usually a Joe, not a Josephine) goes to his favorite website to download some photos of religious idols, farm implements or, in rare cases, "lonely housewives looking for some fun."

While he's downloading, Margosian says, spyware sent from the site being viewed hijacks his modem and begins charging very expensive phone time for calling a number in the United Kingdom. It's not clear whether the websites involved are in on the scam or victims of it. Either way, the unsuspecting downloader has no clue he's hooked up until he gets his phone bill.

"People tell us they've been hit with hundreds and even thousands of dollars of bogus charges," Margosian says. "It's a very a nice Christmas present from Premier Premium Communications."

The AG's office has opened an investigation, but so far, Margosian says, efforts to contact Premier Premium at Texas and New Hampshire addresses associated with the company have proven unsuccessful.

Premier Premium's website (www.premierpremium.com) lists no contact information and very little other useful info, although its FAQs do warn that anybody can be charged for the international dialup calls, even people who connect to the Internet though cable or high-speed DSL.

Margosian says that people cannot be charged for services they do not authorize and that people who feel they've been victimized by Premier Premium or other modem hijackers should keep a copy of their bills and contact the AG's office with information. (To file a complaint online, go to www.doj.state.or.us and click on "consumer protection.")