Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: FTC Details Latest Moves Against Illegal Telemarketing Calls, (Jul 19, 2023)

By Jeff Williams,TR Daily

Reveal of massive 50-state “Operation Stop Scam Calls” included the announcement of five new enforcement actions.

As part of the “Operation Stop Scam Calls” initiative it has been conducting for the past year with more than 100 federal and state partners, including the FCC and attorneys general from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Federal Trade Commission yesterday announced several new enforcement actions against “consent farm” operators, a VoIP (voice-over-Internet protocol) service provider, and others accused of engaging in illegal activities resulting in prohibited telemarketing calls.

The operation’s “comprehensive crackdown” is a “coordinated and bipartisan effort to help stop the scourge of illegal marketing calls,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said during a press conference.

Two of the enforcement actions are against consent farms, which “turbocharge” the proliferation of illegal calls by using deceptive means to entice consumers to provide consent to receive telemarketing calls, which are then sold as leads to multiple third-party telemarketers, Mr. Levine said.

One of the new complaints announced, filed on behalf of the FTC by the Justice Department in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleged violations of the FTC Act, the FTC’s telemarketing sales rule (TSR), and the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003 by Fluent LLC; Rewardzone USA (d/b/a Up Rewards, The Reward Genius, Flash Rewards, and National Consumer Center); Deliver Technology LLC (d/b/a Flash Rewards); Search Works Media LLC (d/b/a FindDreamJobs and StartACareerToday); and Ease Wins LLC (d/b/a JobsOnDemand). The companies allegedly used deceptive ads promoting things such as job interviews or free gift cards to lure consumers to websites that tricked them into providing personal information and “consenting” to receive robocalls and other telemarketing solicitations.

Under a proposed order, the defendants would be required to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty and be barred from engaging in, assisting, or facilitating robocalls (U.S. v. Fluent LLC, FTC File No. 1923230, Case No. 9:23-cv-81045).

The other consent farm–related complaint, filed by the Justice Department in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco Division) (case 23-03516), alleges violations of the FTC Act and the TSR by Viceroy Media Solutions LLC (d/b/a quick-jobs.com); Voltron Interactive; and their owners, Sunil Kanda and Quynh Tran. The companies allegedly acted as a consent farm to generate leads through the quick-jobs.com and localjobindex.com websites that resulted in millions of illegal robocalls.

Under a proposed order, the defendants would be prohibited from assisting companies in placing robocalls and would pay a $91,3636 civil penalty, which would be partially suspended based on their inability to pay (U.S. v. Viceroy Media Solutions, LLC, FTC File No. 2123088).

Another complaint, filed by the Justice Department on the FTC’s behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleged that Yodel Technologies LLC and its owner, Robert Pulsipher, violated the TSR by providing soundboard services—which enable call center employees to use pre-recorded audio clips to interact with consumers—to companies that placed millions of illegal calls to consumers on the Do-Not-Call (DNC) Registry.

A proposed order to settle the complaint calls for Yodel and Pulsipher to be banned from participating in telemarketing and would impose a $1 million civil penalty, which would be partially suspended after they pay $400,000 (U.S. v. Yodel Technologies, LLC, FTC File No. 2123074).

Another complaint, filed on behalf of the FTC by the Justice Department in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, alleged solar panel company Vision Solar LLC and Solar Xchange LLC (d/b/a Energy Exchange) and its owner Mark Getts violated the FTC Act, the TSR, and Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act and Telephone Solicitation Act by making “tens of millions” of unlawful telemarketing calls on behalf of Vision Solar to consumers listed on the DNC Registry.

In addition, the complaint said, some of the telemarketers placing calls falsely claimed to be affiliated with a utility company or government agency, and misrepresented how much money consumers could save by installing solar panels on their homes.

Under a proposed order, Solar Xchange and Getts would pay a partially suspended civil penalty of $13.8 million and be prohibited from engaging in “abusive” telemarketing practices, misrepresenting their affiliation with any utility or government agency, and making unsubstantiated claims regarding the costs of installing solar panels (U.S. v. Solar Xchange, LLC, FTC File No. 2223063, Case No. 2:23-cv-01387).

The final complaint, filed on behalf of the FTC by the Justice Department in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (case 23-22553), alleges Hello Hello Miami (HHM) and Luis Leon Amaris assisted and facilitated the delivery of 37.8 million illegal robocalls by providing VoIP services to more than 11 foreign telemarketers (U.S. v. Hello Hello Miami, LLC, FTC File No. 2223041, Case No. 1:23-CV-22553).

Attorneys: Zachary Cowan for the United States. Becca J. Wahlquist (Kelley Drye & Warren LLP) for Viceroy Media Solutions, LLC, Voltron Interactive, LLC. Coleen Patricia Schoch for the U.S. Isaac Michael Gabriel (Dorsey & Whitney LLP) for Solar Xchange LLC. Rowan L. Reid, U.S. Department of Justice, for the U.S. Lacy R. Harwell, Jr. for the U.S. Helen Mac Murray (Mac Murray & Shuster LLP) for Yodel Technology Services, LLC. Zachary Cowan for the U.S.

Companies: Voltron Interactive, LLC; Vision Solar LLC; Hello Hello Miami, LLC; Yodel Technology Services, LLC; Fluent, Inc.

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