Attorney General Lisa Madigan today filed two lawsuits against Chicago- and California-based companies for marketing prepaid calling cards to consumers, particularly to immigrant communities, that offer up to 50 percent fewer minutes than advertised and are riddled with hidden usage fees.

Madigan filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Nobel Tel LLC and NTI Inc., a Chicago company. Madigan said the companies targeted marketing at immigrant consumers seeking to make international calls.

The law against NTI, which is located at 4718 N. Kedzie Ave., alleges that the company’s prepaid cards provided an average of 50 percent fewer actual minutes of talk time than the total time advertised. The company sells cards at neighborhood convenience and telecommunication stores in the Chicago area.

Nobel Tel, based in Carlsbad, Calif., sells, distributes and markets to Illinois retailers prepaid cards that are riddled with hidden fees – from hang-up fees to daily usage charges. Madigan’s investigation revealed that some cards misrepresented the actual amount of call time available. The cards’ packaging referred to “units” of time as opposed to actual minutes, where one “unit” represented only a portion of a minute of international talk time.