The Federal Communications Commission issued its largest ever fine to a pair of Texas telemarketers that made more than 1 billion robocalls falsely to sell health insurance.
The fine is the largest ever issued by the government agency.
John Spiller and Jakob Mears, who made the calls for their businesses Rising Eagle and JSquared Telecom, were fined $225 million for the calls where they claimed to sell insurance for companies like Aetna, Cigna, United HealthCare and Blue Cross Blue Shield after asking if listeners were interested in “affordable health insurance with benefits from a company you know?”
If listeners pressed 3 to speak to an agent the calls was forwarded to a call center that was not affiliated with those companies.
According to the FCC, Spiller told investigators he intentionally called people on the Do Not Call list, usually using spoofed phone numbers. The firm was able to make millions of robocalls a day, the FCC said.
“Unwanted robocalls are not only a nuisance, but they also pose a serious risk to consumers who can inadvertently share sensitive, personal information in response to bad actors’ malicious schemes,” acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “I’m proud to unveil my first set of actions to put a renewed focus on what the FCC can do to combat the issue that we receive the most complaints about.”
The agency also issued cease-and-desist letters to six other robocall companies who were making scam calls about a number companies and topics, like student loans, credit cards, Apple accounts, utilities, the IRS, AT&T discounts and Amazon refunds.
“Today’s cease-and-desist letters should serve as a warning sign to other entities that believe the FCC has turned a blind eye to this issue,” Rosenworcel said. “We certainly haven’t and we’re coming for you.”
