Scammer who made 96 million robocalls should pay $120M fine, FCC says

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Besjunior)

The Federal Communications Commission today said that a scammer named Adrian Abramovich "apparently made 96 million spoofed robocalls during a three-month period" in order to trick people into buying vacation packages. The FCC proposed a fine of $120 million, but it will give the alleged perpetrator a chance to respond to the allegations before issuing a final decision.

The robocalls appeared to come from local numbers, and they told recipients to "press 1" to hear about exclusive vacation deals from well-known hotel chains and travel businesses such as Marriott, Expedia, Hilton, and TripAdvisor, the FCC said.

"Consumers who did press the button were then transferred to foreign call centers where live operators attempted to sell vacation packages often involving timeshares," the FCC said. "The call centers were not affiliated with the well-known travel and hospitality companies mentioned in the recorded message."

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments