InfoBytes Blog
FCC suspects robocaller of illegal call traffic
On May 20, the FCC released a notification of suspected illegal traffic against a voice service provider (VSP) for allegedly originating illegal robocall traffic. According to the FCC, it appeared that the VSP claimed to offer financial services by delivering prerecorded messages related to debt consolidation loans, and it claimed to be from one of three financial institutions, two of which contained names that were confusing to unrelated financial institutions. The two unrelated financial institutions posted warnings on their websites notifying consumers of the misuse of their names to make “spam” type calls. The FCC reviewed 13 traceback calls from the approximately 78 million calls the company solicited between November 2023 and February 2024. Upon review, the FCC claimed that the VSP was the originating provider of these calls, and that the VSP did not contest the calls.
The FCC alleged the call traffic was illegal since the prerecorded messages contained advertisements without any consents of the called party, nor was there any emergency purpose for the calls. The FCC noted three potential consequences that may arise, including blocking of upstream, downstream, and intermediate providers. Additionally, the FCC noted that in the event all deficiencies are not cured, the VSP may face removal from the Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD). Notably, intermediate and other VSPs are only permitted to accept traffic from a domestic VSP if that provider was listed in the RMD.
In a public notice, the FCC notified all U.S.-based VSPs of unlawful robocalls related to debt consolidation loans originating the from the VSP in the above notification.