FTC Launches Crackdown on Illegal Robocalls, Telemarketing
Action will target VoIP providers that facilitate calls, as well as consent farms that gather and sell consumers' personal information
US regulators have launched a nationwide crackdown on companies inundating US consumers with billions of unwanted and illegal telemarketing robocalls.
The action, known as Operation Stop Scam Calls, was announced Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission and involves more than 100 federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country, as well as the attorneys general of all 50 states and Washington, DC.
In addition to telemarketers, the action will target so-called consent farms that provide your personal information to robocallers while falsely saying consumers agreed to receive the calls. The crackdown also targets Voice over Internet Protocol providers that facilitate illegal robocalls, which often originate outside the US.
"We are taking action against those who trick people into phony consent to receive these calls and those who make it easy and cheap to place these calls," Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement announcing the crackdown.
The FTC received more than 1.8 million complaints about robocalls in 2022, down from 3.4 million the previous year. More than 2.5 million people signed up last year to the Do Not Call Registry. The registry allows people to register their numbers with the FTC to let telemarketers know they are not to be called with solicitations. As of November, the registry contained more than 246 million phone numbers.
See also: How to Stop Those Annoying Spam Calls You Get Every Day
The FTC said it's brought 167 cases against illegal robocallers and violators of the Do Not Call Registry, with defendants being ordered to pay more than $2 billion.
One such target of the FTC is Fluent, a New York-based media company that allegedly operated a consent farm that lured consumers to its websites with the promise of job interviews and $1,000 Walmart gift cards. Instead of providing the promised job opportunity or reward, the websites tricked people out of their personal information and "consent" to receive robocalls, which they then sold to third-party marketers, the FTC said.
Fluent used these tactics to obtain and sell more than 620 million telemarketing leads between January 2018 to December 2019, the FTC said. Fluent faces a $2.5 million fine and ban on robocall activity under a proposed settlement.
Fluent didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
For tips on keeping robocalls to a minimum, check out how to block unknown callers on iPhone and how to set up Google's call screen feature.