By Alejandra Cancino | The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that it has sued companies
that allegedly made millions of prerecorded calls offering to extend
auto warranties and lower credit card rates to consumers nationwide.
One was filed in Illinois May 24 against three companies that “operate
as a common enterprise”: Los Angeles-based SBN Peripherals Inc., Asia
Pacific Telecom Inc. and Repo B.V. The other was filed in Florida June
2 against Miami-based Dolce Group Worldwide LLC.
SBN Peripherals made more than 370 million prerecorded calls to consumers last year from phone numbers registered to Asia Pacific Telecom, which list addresses in the Northern Mariana Islands, Hong Kong and Netherlands, according to the FTC.
Steven Baker, the FTC’s Midwest Region director, said the recordings falsely claimed to have urgent information about the consumer’s auto warranty or credit card rate. The messages asked consumers to press “one” to receive more information. Consumers were then transferred to live telemarketers who sold worthless debt-reduction services or inferior extended auto service contracts for $1,300 to $2,485.
The auto warranty robocalls were made on behalf of The Dolce Group Worldwide owned by Fereidoun Khalilian, who was previously sued by the FTC for illegal telemarketing calls. (The FTC and Khalilian reached a settlement in 2001 for his involvement in deceptive telemarketing calls for travel packages. Khalilian was barred from all travel-related telemarketing and had to pay $ 185,000 in consumer redress.)
On June 2, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami issued a temporary restraining order against Khalilian and Dolce Group Worldwide temporarily freezing their assets and appointing a receiver to take control over the company.
SBN Peripherals delivered similar robocalls on behalf of at least six other companies, which were not named in the suit.
Under FTC rules, telemarketers must obtain permission in writing from consumers who want to receive prerecorded telemarketing calls. Without that notice, so-called robocalls are illegal and telemarketers face penalties of up to $16,000 per call.
There are exceptions. Calls that are not trying to sell goods and services are exempt, such as automated political solicitations, calls about flight delays or school closings, and debt collections. Live telemarketing calls are allowed to consumers whose number is not listed in the Do Not Call registry.
Consumers can register their number, file a complaint at donotcall.gov or call 888-382-1222. As of December, more than 191 million phone numbers were on the Do Not Call registry.
To listen to one of the robocalls, click here. (Windows Media Player)
I’M ON THE DO NOT CALL LIST & I GET TELEMARKETER CALLS ALL THE TIME.
The “do not call” list is a joke. People who are on the list have agreed, intentionally or not, to receive calls from “pre-screened” telemarketers.
I too am on the do not call list, and received numerous robo-calls from the extended auto warranty firm, which is funny because I do not own a car. I own a Trek mountain bike and take the Metra train.
It’s about time. These morons have been harrassing me for years. I hope the get big fines and jail time! Now, go after “Heather at Account Services”!!!
I have also gotten those calls from Heather at Account Services about reducing credit card interest rates. I have been on the Do Not Call list since its inception, but that hasn’t stopped the calls. I have Pressed Two to be removed and have even spoken with live telemarketers, asking them to remove my number. They either laugh at me or hang up. I have reported all of these calls to the FTC, but they just keep coming. When I attempted to report the calls to AT&T, I was told that I had to file a police report!
Yes, I got a call from Heather just yesterday. The Caller ID showed “Cellular Call”. I reported it immediately on the Do Not Call web site. I also pressed one and told the live person they were in violation of federal law. Like they care! I thought the government was in the process of taking Credit Services to court. What is the status of that?
Well, I thought it was one of the ones mentioned in the article, but if you just got a call, I guess not. All we can do is keep reporting them and hope the Feds will eventually shut them down.