FCC Proposes $45 Million Fine Against Robocalling Telemarketer
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Federal Communications Commission today proposed a $45 million fine against a company that conducted an apparently illegal robocall campaign to sell health insurance under the pretense that the annual enrollment period had been reopened due to the coronavirus pandemic. Interstate Brokers of America apparently made 514,467 unlawful robocalls without subscribers’ prior express consent or an emergency purpose. This is the largest TCPA robocall fine ever proposed by the Commission.
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau investigation found that Interstate Brokers made 514,196 robocalls to wireless phones and 271 telemarketing robocalls to landline phones in apparent violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The Bureau reviewed a sample of 10,000 calls, confirmed with the dialing platform provider that the calls were pre-recorded messages, and spoke to several recipients who confirmed they had not provided to consent to be called. The proposed fine is based on the verified calls.
Interstate Brokers is a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based lead generator run by Gregory Robbins and which also does business as National Health Agents. The company purchased lists of phone numbers from third-party vendors; it also acquired numbers from consumers looking for health insurance quotes online, without clearly disclosing that, by providing contact information, the consumers would be subject to robocalls. The company left prerecorded voice messages marketing its clients’ insurance plans. Voice recognition software would identify when a consumer answered the call. If a consumer responded by pressing a number on their phone, or by staying on hold, the system automatically transferred the call to a call center operated by Interstate Brokers. Consumers were then offered insurance products sold by one of several insurance companies that had hired Interstate Brokers
https://www.riverbender.com/articles/details/fcc-proposes-45-million-fine-against-robocalling-telemarketer-56900.cfm
