FCC issues historic $300 million fine against the largest robocall scam it has ever investigated

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Business

CNN — The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday cracked down on a massive illegal robocall operation responsible for billions of auto-warranty scam calls in recent years, with regulators imposing a record $300 million fine on what authorities said is the largest such network it has ever investigated.

The globe-spanning illegal operation violated US telecom laws by making more than five billion robocalls to more than half a billion phone numbers over the course of just three months in 2021, the FCC said in a release Wednesday. But the campaign had been in existence for even longer, the FCC added.

Using a multitude of shell companies, aliases and fly-by-night phone providers allegedly under their control, the people behind the network — which CNN has previously reported on — had sought to dupe unwitting consumers into buying shoddy service contracts for their vehicles since 2018. The ringleaders of the operation, Roy Melvin Cox Jr. and Aaron Michael Jones, were repeat offenders who had already been under judicial orders not to engage in telemarketing.

A breakthrough in enforcement came last July, when Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit against the network that outlined many of the operation’s details, including its organizational structure. At the same time, the FCC directed US voice providers to stop carrying calls originating from providers used by the network. Within weeks, third-party industry estimates showed an 80% reduction in the volume of auto-warranty spam calls in the United States, and on Thursday, the FCC said the move ultimately led to a 99% reduction in such calls.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/04/tech/fcc-robocall-scam-biggest-fine/index.html

[unc70]

1. Will our warranties still be valid?

Just kidding

[Beakybird]

2. Lol

[SouthernDem4ever]

28. I am going to miss our conversations

Scammer: Hello Meester XXXXX, I am frum the vehicle warranty dept, Vee hat you down as being out of warranty for you car.

Me: What is the name of your company?

Scammer: Vehicle Warranty Dept

Me: From what company?

Scammer: Vehicle Warranty Dept

Me: That's the name of the company on your paycheck?

Scammer: Click.

[csziggy]

34. My last conversation with them

Scammer: Hello Meester XXXXX, I am frum the vehicle warranty dept, Vee hat you down as being out of warranty for you car.

Me: (excitedly) Oh, great! I've been worried about paying repairs on my car!

Scammer: (sensing a pawn) Yes, we can offer a warranty for you. What is the year, make and model of your vehicle?

Me: It's a 1999 GMC Suburban.

Scammer: *CLICK*

[SouthernDem4ever]

38. LOL I also sometimes get to the part where they ask me my mileage

I tell them 240,000

Click.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. I stand at the brink every day of ripping out my landline

or transporting the number to a second smart phone. But that involves new cable internet and it's a pain to hookup. Many days I feel i'm a slave to my possessions.

So tired of robocalls. Most are from Police Chiefs association. All digital and mechanized. They have humor. They wait for your reply and it doesn't matter if you're coherent. You can say "hamburger", that's adequate. Lots of Buy your House calls. They never end. Big Venture capital puts telemarketers on the case to scare up business.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. I have a call blocker thingy on my landline

and just program the whole (area code)-(exchange) to block many of those repeat "Police Association" scam calls. And it was already pre-programmed to refuse "Unknown Caller" and "Out of Area" numbers. I also had to use it block out the RW loon RNC, NRSC, and NRCC calls. So satisfying to know they are getting the hangup.

I do have a Comcast triple-play line too that still gets that crap but I have that line connected to my printer/scanner/fax machine, so when it answers, it gives the caller the old "beeeeppppp...boooooppp....bssssshhhhhh....skwwwweeeee..."

[moonscape]

9. Which call blocker thingie is it? Way more versatile than

anything I’ve struggled with.

[BumRushDaShow]

36. It's a Digitone

I believe I had even seen the recommendation here on DU years ago. Life saver!

https://digitone.com/

The various models they have had over the years are here - https://digitone.com/support.html

The first one I got was this (DCB10) -



and the one I have now is this (ProSeries I) -



They have a newer one out now and you can actually run more than one in tandem.

What is good about it is that the phone that you actually plug into it will be the one that suppresses the ring of any blocked call and any other phone that you have (on the same line) will only have 1 ring to alert to a call that is incoming and being blocked. So I have it in my bedroom for "illegal" spam calls that I have blocked that come in after the legal telemarketing hours (which is no later than 9 pm local time and I have had some calling at 9:30 pm or later ).

[moonscape]

40. Thanks for this! I have Comcast - if it will

work with it I’m getting one! I use Nomorobo which is helpful, but can’t do the full job.

[BumRushDaShow]

41. I have the Comcast triple play one too

although I have that line running through a desk phone and and also plugged into a printer/copier/fax (using a cord that came with the printer) so when it picks up, the other end gets the infamous modem "beeps and boops and whooshes".

I used that line for work since it had unlimited long distance and I had a billion con calls - some not toll free and it was easier using that when working from home than trying to do those on the gov't-issued blackberry.

Should be no problem with that working with the Comcast line. Just plug the line from the cable modem into the device and then from the device into your handset (it takes any RJ11 phone cable).

[moonscape]

42. Thanks :)

[csziggy]

35. I got rid of RNC, NRSC and NRCC calls

After the Right Wing Loon sold my info to them when I called to complain about his vote against the ACA. Every time one of those groups called, I thanked them for reminding me that it was time for me to donate to the Democratic version of their PACs - and that every time they called I would donate MORE to the DNC, DSCC, and DCCC.

They haven't called me in years.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. LOL

I think the first time I picked up on one of the loon callers, I told them I was a Democrat so don't bother. Click. And ever since the calls had escalated. And then I realized they had some kind of pool of numbers so after I initially blocked individual numbers, I went on and blocked the whole exchange. They later started calling from a new area code and set of exchanges so I just blocked that whole area code.

Then I accidentally picked up a call that had "ELISE STEFANIK" in the caller ID and since I knew an "Elise", I stupidly didn't pay attention to the last name until I heard the spiel and liked to

You can actually block by name or number with the device so her name is prominently in my list.

I get all of those GOP variants too many times and they aren't even recorded robocalls - they are live people. I already donate to (D) candidates (the last ones I did were the TN Justins for example), plan to donate to Bob Casey, and to the DNC (a good chunk of $) so I'm not moneybags enough to try to match call for call.

[slightlv]

15. I finally pulled the plug on our landline

when we switched Internet companies. Enough was enough. Why pay to be harrassed? I get enough of that for free! (LOL)

But you hit one of my personal pet peeves in your reply... the Police Chiefs association. My hubby signed up once, close to 20 years ago, when I started commuting between cities. He thought having that little logo on my car would be helpful, should I run into trouble on the road.

My gods... once you donate, no matter how often you tell them "NO" afterwards, they never let up. After doing a bunch of research on this particular group, I gave THEM an earful when they tried to lay the old manipulating language on me. Once I answered back with the research answers I found, they hung up on me! That hasn't stopped them from trying again, year after year. I told the hubs to please not sign me up for donating to anything without asking me first -- the only exception is animal health/rescue groups.

[SouthernDem4ever]

27. They find your cell phone too

they have auto dialers that pretend they are in your exchange that just keep dialing one number after the other to see if someone picks up. Once you answer, they keep the number as valid and sell it to others.

[AllaN01Bear]

16. these are scam callers not telemarketers , a incident with one with

my health care workeer and rep were in the elevator in my apartment and one of these came over the elevator secure line , we both howlled with laugther

[maxsolomon]

4. a FINE?

how about some Prison sentences?

The ringleaders of the operation, Roy Melvin Cox Jr. and Aaron Michael Jones, were repeat offenders who had already been under judicial orders not to engage in telemarketing.

[Historic NY]

5. EXactly

[Snooper9]

7. That will be handled by other agencies

nt

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Here is a good background article on this from a year ago when they were working on it

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/18/tech/auto-warranty-robocalls-case/index.html

And the answer to your question appears in the last paragraphs of it -

(snip)

Authorities could also look at bringing criminal charges against repeat offenders. In the interview, Yost told CNN that option is still “on the table” for Cox and Jones.

Repeat violations of FTC civil settlements have also been known to lead to criminal contempt of court charges, Evans said. But federal decisions about bringing criminal lawsuits would fall to the Justice Department, not the FTC or FCC. While DOJ has sued some robocallers to obtain their fines, experts like Saunders say criminal prosecution could be messy and time-consuming, when other alternatives already exist.

Even as illegal robocalls appear to be on the decline, said YouMail’s Quilici, it isn’t clear “how steep and sustainable that trend is.” The decline has coincided with reports of a troubling rise in text messaging spam.

As I have posted over and over and over and over and over - (non-enforcement) regulatory civilian agencies (which are most of them) have no authority to bring criminal charges. That falls to DOJ. And there is a whole process to do that AFTER an agency exhausts their own statutory options and procedures (as people saw with NARA and the 45 Presidential Records stuff, where they finally did a referral to DOJ leading to the search and seizure warrants once they ran through their normal escalated compliance requests).

[maxsolomon]

23. I apologize for not reading all your posts on the topic of regulatory civilian agencies.

[AllaN01Bear]

17. thanks i was just talking w a friend about the same thing . lovk em up.

[IronLionZion]

8. They have no idea what car I have, my name, where I live, etc.

it's such an obvious scam. I'm surprised it lasted so long.

People can report scams to the FTC here: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

I've reported many over the years. That link also has links to the Do Not Call registry and what to do for Identity Theft.

[LiberalFighter]

10. They need to go after the Medicare scams too.

[JohnnyRingo]

11. Business as usual.

5 Billion calls to half a billion numbers!?
Talk about not taking a hint.

[img][/img]

[bluedigger]

12. Still waiting for their offer on my salvage title 87 Wrangler.

Sold it two years ago, but I'm hopeful.

[The Wizard]

14. Should you by chance

get to speak with a human and they ask if you can hear them, do not answer. Put down the phone and wait for them to hang up. If you say yes they can say you agreed to purchase land on Tralfamadore.

[Bear Creek]

18. Share

The money should be divided between everyone who had to put up with and not to the state coffers.

[nwduke]

19. What's the entire Republican Party going to do now

With all the extended car warranties they purchased over the phone?🤔😂🤪🤪

[usaf-vet]

20. They have moved on now they are send emails with a bill for antivirus renewal notices.

At least one email a day trying to give the poorly informed an opportunity to give them your information (Phishing) to prove you aren't a former customer of there's, but of course, they have what they want your data. And they will use it to steal what they can while you aren't looking.

ONLY THE GOVERNMENT CAN STOP THESE MASSIVE INVASIONS OF YOUR PRIVACY.

INTERESTING this takedown of the auto warranty scam was under a Democratic President, while the former guy in the White House was a scammer grifting all the suckers out of their hard-earned dollars.

[3Hotdogs]

21. I use Hiya call screener app.

Rachel hasn’t called me in years

[3Hotdogs]

22. I use Hiya call screener app.

Rachel hasn’t called me in years

[Probatim]

24. Billions of calls seems low to me - I'm pretty sure I receive 8-10 calls daily from these criminals.

Auto warranty, final expense insurance, rebates from the electric company, Camp Lejeune injury lawsuits, diabetes coverage, Medicare coverage - these are a few off the top of my head.

I have fun when I can but it's tiresome.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

25. Raise your hand

If you're surprised that Yost wasn't in on the scam.

[Blue Owl]

26. K&R

[rainin]

29. Occasionally, these robocallers spoof my phone number so people think I called them

I get return calls and have to explain it wasn't me. Connected with a very nice lady the other day, on the up side. We had a lovely conversation about how hot it was outside. Can anyone stop these people from spoofing actual phone numbers? I get so many "I missed a call from this number" calls. It's not me!!

[Historic NY]

30. Goodbye Rachel we hardly knew you..............

:chuckle :

[Historic NY]

31. It seems from the information let out that the FCC & Ohio baited them

to discover the network. Now they have the architecture of the networks involved. Now they have to cut off the rest of the scams/

[BlueIn_W_Pa]

32. Congress needs to enact laws against the phone companies

THEY are the ones making big bucks allowing fake phone numbers by scammers.

I moved from Toledo, OH to Pittsburgh. I KNOW every phone call that starts with the 419 area code (instead of 412) and my first three digits is a scam, and Verizon allows this.

[Wonder Why]

33. I guess the FCC is considered "woke" now by the GOP. Hurting US businesses.

[tiredtoo]

39. I've been using an app called Robokiller for a couple years now

Works well. Got the name from KIM komando I THINK.