Federal regulators have announced a robust crackdown on the growing problem of illegal telemarketing calls that are plaguing consumers in the United States. Samuel Levin, the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated that this effort will specifically target telemarketers who violate laws against robocalls, as well as consent farms and internet phone service providers that enable illegal robocalls. The FTC, along with officials from the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and state prosecutors from Ohio and Illinois, have already taken legal action against two major consent farms as part of their intensified fight against robocalls.
During a news conference, Levine emphasized that tricking customers into agreeing to robocalls is not clever or innovative, but rather it is illegal. Telemarketing firms are prohibited from relying on lead-generation firms to claim that a consumer has consented to receive robocalls. Instead, telemarketers must obtain consent directly from the individual being called.
Levine described consent farms as playing a significant role in the epidemic of spam calls in the country. These farms fuel fraud and allow billions of robocalls to occur. However, with the actions being announced, the FTC and its partners are determined to close the door on this fraudulent activity. The regulators have filed a complaint against Fluent, a New York-based media company, accusing it of operating as a consent farm and selling more than 620 million personal data leads to robocallers. Fluent faces a $2.5 million penalty as a result. Another digital marketing company, Viceroy Media in California, has also faced legal action for allegedly capturing consumers’ personal information through websites and selling it to robocallers. The comprehensive crackdown by federal and state authorities encompasses not only telemarketers but also voice providers and consent farms that facilitate fraudulent activities.
Efforts to combat illegal robocalls have been ongoing for years, including targeting individuals on the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry. In recent actions, three brothers from New Jersey paid a $1.6 million settlement for their involvement in initiating over 45 million illegal robocalls. Additionally, attorneys general from almost every state filed a lawsuit in May against Avid Telecom, a major telemarketer accused of making more than 7.5 billion robocalls to individuals on the FTC’s no-call list.
Sadly, Americans received 50.3 billion robocalls in 2022, indicating that the problem remains persistent despite enforcement efforts. Many of these calls involve scams, leading to a median loss of $1,400 per person in phone scams during that year, according to the FTC.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost aptly compared robocallers to a plague of locusts, infesting the telecommunications landscape and deceiving and defrauding countless individuals daily.
In conclusion, the government’s crackdown on illegal telemarketing calls aims to protect consumers from the fraudulent practices of robocallers, consent farms, and other entities that enable this unlawful activity. However, the battle against robocalls continues as regulators strive to stay one step ahead of the ever-evolving schemes employed by scammers.
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