An Arizona phone service provider is being sued by virtually all state attorneys general on allegations that it enabled billions of robocalls, many of which seemed to be scams. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, regulators claimed that Avid Telecom spoofs phone numbers in order to boost the probability that calls placed to its clients will be answered.
The corporation has been accused of violating anti-deceptive telemarketing rules by making 7.5 billion automated calls to people on the National Do Not Call Registry. “Every day, millions of American consumers receive a barrage of unwanted robocalls that are harassing, annoying, threatening, and malicious,” according to the complaint filed by the attorneys general of 48 states and the District.
“These calls are all scams designed to scare and harm consumers. Other robocalls may not be scams but are harassing, abusive, and illegal, nonetheless.” This legal action is the most recent measure taken to stop prerecorded phone scams.
The FCC took action to prevent another internet calling service, Global UC, from accessing the U.S. phone network in November 2022. The FCC issued the wide order because the corporation had violated robocall regulations. According to the prosecution, Avid had reason to know its services were being exploited for fraud.
According to the complaint, Avid executives disregarded at least 329 notifications from an industry group established by the FCC to report spam calls. The Washington Post’s request for comment from the Tuscon firm went unanswered.
The news can be confirmed by the tweet below:
Attorneys general from across the U.S. have filed a lawsuit against Avid Telecom, a company accused of making more than 7.5 billion robocalls to people on the national Do Not Call Registry. https://t.co/IEMIN9XDlU
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 24, 2023
The company told CNBC in a statement that it has “never been found by any court or regulatory authority to have transmitted unlawful traffic,” and that it is willing to meet with attorneys general to “demonstrate its lawful conduct.”
“Contrary to the allegations in the complaint, Avid Telecom operates in a manner that is compliant with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations,” the company’s statement reads.
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The complaint references a preliminary assessment of call records showing that between December 2018 and January 2023, Avid facilitated almost 21 billion calls to U.S. phone numbers, of which 93% lasted less than 15 seconds.
Some of these calls came from numbers that looked official, such as those associated with Social Security or Medicare, while others claimed to be from well-known companies like Amazon or DirectTV.
What’s going on in California at the moment? The latest happenings at The California Examiner can now be followed by interested parties on Twitter.
