The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has slapped the heaviest fine in its history, $299,997,000 (around €2.7 million), on an international telemarketing network operating in the United States.
This network, whose key members included two men banned for life from making such calls, made more than five billion calls in three months in 2021, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said on Thursday.
Managed since at least 2018 by several companies based in the United States, Hungary and Panama, the network violated US federal law and robocall regulations, the FCC said in a statement.
Among other things, it telemarketed without written consent, contacted unlisted numbers and used more than a million different numbers to disguise its purposes and deceive victims, the FCC said. The aim was to sell vehicle maintenance contracts under the guise of offering car insurance.
Eight people were identified as key members of the operation, five in California, two in Hungary and one in Panama. They included two men with a “central role” who were banned for life from telemarketing as part of an agreement with the FCC and the Texas courts to avoid a trial.
The FCC worked in this case with the justice of the state of Ohio, which launched proceedings in July 2022 against the eight individuals and 14 entities, according to a document consulted by French news agency AFP.
The total amount of the damage was not specified.
