Amazing news in the battle against robocalls - the U.S. communications regulator has just proposed a $225 million fine, its largest ever, against two health insurance telemarketers for spamming people with 1 billion robocalls using fake phone numbers.
ONE BILLION robocalls, that is simply staggering, a number that you can’t afford to ignore. And it is precisely why you should not answer an unknown number before checking who is behind it, and the best way to do it is through the reverse phone lookup, just enter the number in the search and you will get all the available data on the owner so that you can make a safe decision whether to answer the call, block it or report it. Protection yourself and your loved ones from such predators should always be your top priority.
But in order to understand how it is that they get you, here are some additional details about the case in question.
The games they play
The FCC said John Spiller and Jakob Mears made the calls through two businesses. According to the Federal Communications Commission - the robocalls offered plans from major insurers like Aetna and UnitedHealth with an automated message and if consumers pressed a button for more information they were transferred to a call center that sold plans not connected to those companies. Very elementary, but at the same time quite efficient.
Believe it or not, but more than four months in early 2019, these phone scammers faked the number their calls displayed in caller ID with the very clear intent to deceive prospective consumers. Their next move was even worse - they would very purposefully call people who are on the Do Not Call list. That is a big issue, once you are on that list it is simply illegal to call you. However, they did an additional illegal move and that is calling consumers on their cellphones without previously getting permission to do so.
That is just part of the story. The other has to do with the companies whose numbers were faked. They are also affected by this scam. The usage of their number by the phone scammers resulted in those companies receiving a lot of very angry calls from their dissatisfied customers regarding calls that were not actually made by the insurance companies in question. But it got even worse. It was those companies that were named in lawsuits from consumers.
Now, the FCC withheld the names of the companies whose numbers were used, but they disclosed that one got so many angry calls from the customers reporting the misuse of personal data that their phoneline became unusable. And that is simply not permissible.
We have won the battle but not the war
Now, it is important to take into consideration that the fine is not a final decision and that Spiller and Mears will have a chance to respond. This is just a beginning, but an important battle has been won, and their phone scam is out in the open and the FCC has put a stop to it.
So, essentially, in the battle against robocalls and telephone scams, this is what we would call a very big win.
Luckily we are not alone in this.
And that is a huge plus. Consumers have the federal government and their phone service providers on their side and they are all battling this menace together. The FCC has pushed carriers to do more to stop robocalls and that has resulted in numerous apps and tools that help prevent robocalls even reaching our phones.
In addition, a new law is meant to allow the FCC to strengthen the enforcement measures as it mandates that the phone industry not charge for call-blocking tools and put in place a system so configured that it can remove “spoofed” calls made using fake numbers. This is essential for ensuring that people stay safe and protected from scams such as this one. Especially if you take into consideration that a survey was done in March and April 2020 resulted in the following - over nine out of 10 (91%) people who participated reported that robocalls are becoming more common. And that is simply not permissible. A lot of new ones are emerging due to COVID - 1 situation, while others are still not being sanctioned properly.
Just keep in mind that you can always hang up, input the number into a reliable reverse phone lookup search, and get all the data on the caller. That will make it far easiest for you to assess the threat and decide what course of action you want to take next.