FCC slaps $300M fine on “largest illegal robocall operation” it’s ever seen
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Bill Oxford)
The Federal Communications Commission today issued a record fine of $299,997,000 against a robocall operation that specialized in auto warranty scam calls, the FCC announced, calling it "the largest illegal robocall operation the agency has ever investigated."
"An international network of companies violated federal statutes and the Commission's regulations when they executed a scheme to make more than five billion robocalls to more than 500 million phone numbers during a three-month span in 2021, including violating federal spoofing laws by using more than one million different caller ID numbers in an attempt to disguise the true origin of the robocalls and trick victims into answering the phone," the FCC said.
The FCC proposed the $300 million penalty in December 2022. The FCC said it "offered the parties a chance to respond, which they did not do, resulting in today's unprecedented fine."