It’s no secret that over the past few years, the FCC has taken several steps to crack down on robocalls and the companies associated with them. Now, in line with these efforts, the Attorneys General from 48 states, along with the District of Columbia, have joined forces to file a lawsuit against Avid Telecom, an Arizona-based company known for its involvement in the robocall epidemic.
According to the complaint, Avid Telecom made over 7.5 billion calls to registered numbers between December 2018 and January 2023, and the fact that over 90% of the calls were less than 15 seconds indicates the likely status of a robocall. Moreover, the lawsuit has named Avid Telecom’s CEO, Michael Lansky, and Vice President of Operations and Sales, Stacey Reeves, as defendants.
How did Avid Telecom operate?
The comprehensive 141-page lawsuit sheds light on Avid Telecom’s deceptive practices, which include providing its customers with tools to conduct mass robocalls, such as phone numbers, data, and dialling software. These spam calls facilitated by Avid Telecom covered a range of scams, including those related to Social Security, auto warranties, Medicare, and credit interest rate reduction. Additionally, to make them look legitimate, the company disguised over 8.4 million of these robocalls to mimic government agencies or well-known companies such as Amazon and DirecTV.
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that Avid Telecom received numerous notifications from a group authorized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about suspected illegal robocalls but took no action and violated several consumer protection laws, including the Telephone and Consumer Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and other telemarketing regulations.
Avid Telecom’s response
In response to the allegations, Avid Telecom stated, “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 has never been found by any court or regulatory authority to have transmitted unlawful traffic and it is prepared to meet with the Attorneys General, as it has on many occasions in the past, to further demonstrate its good faith and lawful conduct.”
Moreover, the company also expressed disappointment that the AGs did not directly communicate their concerns before filing the lawsuit.
2023-05-29 15:11:15