from the shuffling-step-in-the-right-direction dept.
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
FTC cracks down on robocalls with new initiative
The Federal Trade Commission and law enforcement partners unveiled on Tuesday a new initiative to combat robocalls. "Operation Call it Quits" is a partnership at the local, state and federal level that includes 94 actions targeting illegal robocall operations, including shutting down robocall companies and issuing fines in the millions.
"Nearly all robocalls are illegal unless you've given consent in writing," Andrew Smith, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said during a press briefing.
The initiative comes at a time when illegal robocalls have permeated not just household and business landlines but also hospital phone lines. These calls run the gamut from services that promise to reduce your credit card's interest rate to operations that say they'll help you earn money from home. Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill mentioned during the briefing that last year alone $10.5 billion was lost to phone scams in the United States.
[...] Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission gave wireless carriers the green light to block robocalls for customers by default.
Similarly, the FTC hopes that in the upcoming months Congress will give it greater jurisdiction over telecommunications carriers to trace calls back to their source, according to Smith.
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In December 2022, the FCC proposed the biggest fine it has ever issued against a robocalling outfit – $299,997,000. The penalty eclipses the previous record holder – Rising Eagle and JSquared Telecom – by nearly $75 million in 2020. After a lengthy investigation, the Commission decided on Thursday to proceed with the huge fine.
The record-breaking punishment goes to an illegal transnational robocalling operation. The outfit is so big (or so blatantly illegal) that it does not have an official umbrella company. It's more of a network of cooperating businesses that made more than five billion automated calls to over 500 million phone numbers within a three-month period in 2021.
In doing so, the FCC says the organized operation broke multiple federal laws by spoofing more than one million telephone numbers to hide their actual origin and trick people into answering the calls. It also violated numerous other FCC regulations.
[...] The operation has allegedly been around since 2018 and primarily sold consumers vehicle service contracts falsely disguised as auto warranties. Two primary bad actors – Roy M. Cox and Aaron Michael Jones – already hold lifetime bans from running telemarketing businesses after losing a lawsuit brought on them by the FCC and the State of Texas. Business names associated with the illegal enterprise include Sumco Panama, Virtual Telecom, Davis Telecom, Geist Telecom, Fugle Telecom, Tech Direct, Mobi Telecom, and Posting Express.
[...] It's hard to nail down robocallers, but it's at least nice to see the FCC trying to hit them with huge penalties instead of laughable slaps on the wrist.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 26 2019, @05:32PM
Oh boy! That means no more number spoofing and we can whitelist our contacts!... Right?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Informative) by Snotnose on Wednesday June 26 2019, @05:39PM (12 children)
Swear to god, any politician that robocalls me can rest assured I'll vote for their opponent, no matter who they are.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 26 2019, @05:54PM (6 children)
That won't leave you any choice, unless you write in somebody who doesn't want the job, because if they do, you will get a call.
The thing is watered down bullshit. We have to demand the blocking tech in our own phones, not rely on the carriers' "good judgement".
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:05PM (5 children)
Most of the robocalls I get these days are spam/scams. But I do remember at least one campaign where I got a robocall from one party's politician (probably the incumbent) and not the other.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:24PM (3 children)
politician, spam/scams, same thing, no?
I still don't know why there is statistically no demand for an end to number spoofing and our own whitelist in our own phones. Then we don't have to think about politicians barging in. The carriers have no business blocking anything. This "initiative" is a product of the advertisers.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:46PM (1 child)
No.
Glad I could clear that up for you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @10:10PM
Each one worst than the other, repeat, way down to the bottom.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:53PM
What's wrong with having both?
https://transnexus.com/whitepapers/understanding-stir-shaken/ [transnexus.com]
https://fossbytes.com/best-android-call-blocker-app/ [fossbytes.com]
If a carrier can confirm that callerID is being spoofed, I *want* them to block the call long before it gets to my device. What's more, apps on mobile phones do nothing for SIP/VOIP and/or PRI/DID lines.
What? Which advertisers? Why would advertisers care about it at all? Please do explain. If I didn't hate popcorn (AKA 'devil spawn') I'd make some. This ought to be good.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2, Interesting) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:34PM
I get mail from incumbent candidates, but our state forces them to print "paid for with taxpayer money", if they did so.
Guess who didn't get re-elected, that year.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:09PM (3 children)
It would be good to call or write some politicians, maybe the ones you like, and tell them that.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:26PM (2 children)
If they're so tone-deaf they don't realize people absolutely hate robocalls, then a letter to them ain't gonna do squat.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:31PM (1 child)
You could be right. I'm being generous assuming it is simple ignorance on their part. Unawareness of how hated robo calls actually are. To politicians, robo calls may seem like some new high tech idea of which they know little about. Being politicians they are unable to imagine how robo calls do not scale.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday June 26 2019, @07:48PM
I think I heard about false-flag robocalls during the last couple of election cycles.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:59PM
I got one of these for one of the democrat candidates in my area last election.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:07PM (2 children)
The FCC should hire a company to automatically call each and every single American to assure us that the FCC is working hard to end robo calls. Periodically call us with updates on their progress.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 2) by arulatas on Wednesday June 26 2019, @06:32PM
Perhaps with some little advertisement before it to "cover costs"?
----- 10 turns around
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @07:39PM
They'll hire the former "This is Windows calling... Your computer have virus" call center located in shitstain India.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by negrace on Wednesday June 26 2019, @07:37PM (2 children)
The solution is in the incentives.
Simply pay the telecoms a % of the fine for each spam call detected,
and the spammers will be gone very quickly.
(Score: 2) by progo on Wednesday June 26 2019, @08:17PM (1 child)
The solution is in the incentives.
Simply pay the telecoms a % of the fine for each spam call successfully prosecuted,
and the spammers will be gone very quickly.
-- fixed that for you.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @09:03PM
I'd prefer a more modest approach...
Send a 300KV voltage spike through the phone line that connects to the telemarketer.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by deimtee on Thursday June 27 2019, @05:17AM
The solution is simple and works in every other country on the planet.
Just simply mandate that all telecom providers must provide a plan that charges for outgoing calls/SMS's only. No using up 'minutes', no fees at all on received calls or messages. That's it.
When they can't charge you for receiving, they have to charge the spammers or do it for free. Guess which they do. Spam stops.
By the way, the rest of the world thinks you buggers are crazy for putting up with that shit. If they tried to charge people here for receiving spam they would be in court so fast they would get done for speeding as well.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.