FCC Issues Historic Robocalling Penalty

On August 3, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC" or the "Commission") "issued a record-breaking $299,997,000 fine for auto warranty scam robocalls made by the largest illegal robocall operation the agency has ever investigated."

As readers of this blog know, the penalty comes on the heels of Operation Stop Spam Calls, a major crackdown on the telemarketing industry spearheaded by the Federal Trade Commission and 101 other federal and state law enforcement agencies (including the FCC).

Dating back to at least 2018, the subject robocalling enterprise allegedly violated several federal telemarketing regulations by placing unsolicited telemarketing calls to consumers throughout the United States. The Commission explained that during a three-month span in 2021 alone, the international network initiated more than five billion robocalls to more than 500 million phone numbers. The record-breaking fine announced this week was issued as a result of the