A California VoIP provider has been accused of violating telemarketing sales rules by offering a service that sends billions of illegal robocalls to US consumers.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Friday a civil enforcement action against Los Angeles-based XCast Labs.
The complaint alleges that XCast Labs’ service delivers pre-recorded marketing messages to recipients, many of which are registered with the National Do Not Call Registry. These included fraudulent phone calls impersonating government agencies and “other false or misleading statements to induce purchases.”
For more on robocalls, see FTC crackdown on $110 million charity fraud.
Some calls used spoofed caller ID information to hide the true origin of the caller, or failed to identify the seller of the services being sold, the Justice Department said. claimed.
XCast Labs, which describes itself as “the nation’s largest supplier of enterprise solutions,” has been accused of continuing to allow the use of its service in this way even after the calls were said to be illegal.
“XCast Labs has played a key role in helping telemarketers flood homes with illegal robocalls, including robocalls impersonating the Social Security Administration,” said Samuel Levin, director of the FTC’s Consumer Protection Agency. said Mr. “His VoIP providers, like XCast Labs, keep quiet about customers using their services in violation of the law, so you can expect to hear from the FTC.”
The newly filed complaint seeks civil penalties and a permanent injunction to prevent XCast Labs from committing future violations.
“The Department of Justice is committed to preventing telecom providers from illegally robocalling U.S. consumers by unscrupulous telemarketers,” said Brian Boynton, Chief Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice, Director of Civil Affairs. rice field. “We will continue to work with the FTC to enforce telemarketing rules.”
Automated spam and fraudulent calls continue to pose a major global challenge for regulators and governments. According to a Juniper Research report, the cost of robocalls to victims is expected to rise 9% from 2022, reaching $58 billion globally this year.
