The FTC and partner agencies in federal, state and local law enforcement (the "agencies") commenced a joint action targeting illegal prerecorded telemarketing calls (a/k/a "robocalls").
As part of their "Operation Call It Quits," the agencies have opened 94 actions targeting illegal operations that have made over one billion robocalls concerning a variety of products and services, such as "credit card interest rate reduction services, money-making opportunities and medical alert systems." The FTC and DOJ pursued four new cases against:
- First Choice Horizon LLC, for contacting consumers whose phone numbers were on the Do Not Call ("DNC") Registry, to offer fake credit card interest rate reduction services;
- 8 Figure Dream Lifestyle LLC, for using illegal telemarketing robocalls and other marketing techniques to make deceptive claims with regard to how much consumers can make through the company's programs;
- Derek Jason Bartoli, the developer, operator and provider of a computer-based telephone platform, for initiating (i) millions of robocalls to phone numbers on the DNC Registry and (ii) millions of calls using fake caller IDs; and
- Media Mix 365, LLC, for calling millions of phone numbers on the DNC Registry to develop leads for home solar energy companies.
Additionally, the FTC settled three existing cases, including:
- a $25.3 million judgment against Lifewatch, Inc. for illegal robocalls, primarily against elderly customers, pitching "free" medical alert systems;
- an $18.2 million judgment against Danielle Cadiz, a defendant in the case against Redwood Scientific Technologies, Inc., for illegal robocalls to deceptively market oral film strips as health aids; and
- a $23.1 million judgment against Life Management Services for illegal robocalls to sell fake credit card interest rate reduction services.
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