Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

FCC Proposes $120 Million Fine On Florida Robocall Scammer (reuters.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the justice-is-served dept.

The FCC on Thursday proposed a $120 million fine on a Florida resident alleged to have made almost 100 million spoofed robocalls to trick consumers with "exclusive" vacation deals from well-known travel and hospitality companies. Reuters reports: The man, identified as Adrian Abramovich, allegedly made 96 million robocalls during a three-month period by falsifying caller identification information that matched the local area code and the first three digits of recipient's phone number, the FCC said. The calls, which were in violation of the U.S. telecommunications laws, offered vacation deals from companies such as Marriott International Inc, Expedia Inc, Hilton Inc and TripAdvisor Inc. Consumers who answered the calls were transferred to foreign call centers that tried to sell vacation packages, often involving timeshares. These call centers were not related to the companies, the FCC said.

4 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. I definitely got called by this guy by TheDarkener · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been getting Marriott Hotel calls w/my area code, sometimes 2-3x daily on my business phone line. Fucking annoying and such a time/concentration waster, even with a callblocker (as it obviously spoofs a different number each time). I hope this guy gets what's coming to him.

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  2. Illegal? Yes. Too harsh? Even more so... by bjdevil66 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    $120,000,000 for 100M calls? That's $1.20 per call.

    Unless the scammer made $120M in profits, this goes a little beyond punitive.

    It's too bad net neutrality doesn't get this kind of strong support.

    1. Re:Illegal? Yes. Too harsh? Even more so... by dissy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      $120,000,000 for 100M calls? That's $1.20 per call.

      Unless the scammer made $120M in profits, this goes a little beyond punitive.

      That's cheap as hell, considering calling a number listed on the do not call registry can be up to $40,000 per violation.

      Yes, that's $40k times potentially 100 million calls, or $4 trillion in fines assuming he only called each person just once, which isn't actually the case.

      I have over 50 such calls in my phones call history over the past 5-6 months.
      While it is unlikely to all be from this one single person, this is still two million dollars in violation fees from just on my one phone alone.

      He was very aware of the fines for the actions he knew were criminal.
      Beyond punitive? This is barely a slap on the wrist.

  3. I think he may still be at it by buss_error · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just received a call a few hours ago with my area code and the same as my trunk (first three digits) offering me something about Hilton. I totally hung up before listening to the scam. But it's interesting that this is still going on. Is it the same guy, or are there copycats now?

    --
    Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.