The federal government is using the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act signed by President Trump this year to get tough with those who harass the American public with illegal calls.
In one case, the DOJ is proposing a $225 million forfeiture.
The TRACED Act sets the requirement for a report to Congress on the government's war against illegal robocalls, particularly calls that disproportionately affect elderly Americans.
The DOJ this week confirmed an interagency working group established by Attorney General William P. Barr reported on its progress.
"The Department of Justice and its partners are committed to halting unlawful robocalls," said Barr. "As this report illustrates, we are working hand-in-hand with our federal and state partners to successfully halt the flow of robocalls domestically and abroad. Americans should not have to put up with annoying and abusive robocalls, and the department will continue to work to protect the American public, and particularly American seniors, from these illegal and harassing schemes."
The report recounts two civil actions against Voice over Internet Protocol companies that allegedly engaged in wire-fraud schemes.
"In both cases, the federal courts issued injunctions against the defendants, prohibiting them from carrying robocalls to U.S. consumers and selling U.S. phone numbers. In the months following the department’s action in these cases, the number of robocalls that reached U.S. consumers sharply declined," the DOJ said.
It also outlines how the Federal Trade Commission is fighting the calls, including with an action jointly filed with the Ohio Attorney General in December 2019 against VoIP service provider Globex for providing the means to make allegedly illegal robocalls.
In the case, a settlement required Globex and its U.S.-based subsidiaries to pay $1.95 million and to abide by client screening and monitoring provisions.
Since the National Do Not Call Registry began taking registrations in 2003, the FTC has handled almost 150 enforcement actions against more than 500 companies, and it has collected more than $160 million in relief and penalties.
The Federal Communications Commission also is working on the crime activity, attacking those who deliberately falsify the information transmitted to caller ID displays to disguise the caller’s identity. In that battle was a Notice of Apparent Liability proposing a forfeiture of $225 million against persons allegedly responsible for making, in the first quarter of 2019 alone, approximately 1 billion spoofed robocalls that transmitted prerecorded messages falsely claiming affiliation with a major health insurance company, the DOJ said.
State attorneys general also have been working on the crime syndicates using the robocall channels for profit.
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