After months of investigation, the FCC fined “the largest illegal robocall operation” $300 million. This is the FCC’s largest issued fine.
The FCC has decided to proceed with its proposed record-setting $300 million fine against “the largest illegal robocall operation” it has ever encountered, following a months-long investigation. Robocalling’s massive scale and illegality resulted in the FCC’s largest fine.
Authorities fined a “international network of companies” for making over five billion robocalls to 500 million phone numbers over three months in 2021. You’ve probably received an auto warranty scam call since the US has only 330 million people.
The FCC also found that the criminal organization violated federal spoofing laws by using over one million unique caller ID number. The essence of this was to trick victims into answering.
Robocalling Wasn’t the Only Thing Wrong
The list of violations continues to grow. Roy Cox, Jr. and Michael Aaron Jones, through their company Sumco Panama, circumvented laws by sending pre-recorded voice calls to mobile phones without consent, placing telemarketing calls without permission, and dialing numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. The malicious group also refused to provide call-back numbers to let consumers opt out of future communications. They essentially turned 500 million mobile devices into fraud machines.
Initially, the FCC proposed the massive fine because the robocalls met the criteria for “egregious violations” of existing laws. Consumers have referred to the calls as “continuous” and “harassment.” In this regard, Sumco Panama engaged in practices such as calling healthcare professionals from spoofed hospital numbers.
To maintain the deception, it changed its name to Virtual Telecom, Davis Telecom, Geist Telecom, Tech Direct, Postal Express, etc. As previously stated, the company began selling phony auto warranties in 2018. In addition to the fine, Cox and Jones were prohibited from making telemarketing calls for life.
Last year, the FCC ordered all U.S. voice service providers to stop carrying pair and entity traffic. The agency allowed the parties to respond, but they still need to do so. The US Department of Justice will get involved if they don’t pay the huge fine.
