Robocalls have become a scourge in recent years, and they’ve only grown worse since callers figured out how to fake consumers’ phone numbers, making a call appear to come from somewhere near you. No one’s had much luck stopping them, but the FCC is finally close to issuing a fine against someone using this tactic.
The commission announced today that it’s proposing a $37.5 million fine against a company based in Arizona that allegedly made 2.3 million telemarketing calls under false phone numbers. One woman whose phone number was used said she ended up getting five calls per day on her cellphone from people complaining about being spammed.
This robocall campaign started in 2016 and ran for 14 months, according to the commission. Some calls are also said to have come from unassigned numbers or numbers from burner phones, which would also violate caller ID laws, because the actual caller’s name and number were hidden.
The FCC says this is its “first major enforcement action against a company that apparently commandeered consumers’ phone numbers.”
