Tag Archives: FCC

FCC proposes $5.3 million fine on Tele Circuit Network Corporation

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WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission today proposed a $5,323,322 fine against Tele Circuit Network Corporation. The Duluth, Georgia-based phone company apparently switched consumers from their preferred carrier to Tele Circuit without their permission, misled consumers into believing that telemarketing calls were from the consumer’s current carrier, provided fabricated verification recordings of consumer consent to the FCC, added unauthorized charges to bills, and failed to fully respond to a Commission inquiry.

The FCC’s investigation into Tele Circuit was prompted by consumer complaints to the Commission, state regulators, and the Better Business Bureau. A large percentage of the complaints came from low-income Americans and senior citizens or people filing complaints on behalf of their elderly or infirm relatives. Many Americans, especially senior citizens, low-income consumers, and citizens in rural areas, rely on local and long-distance calling services from landline phones to provide a critical link to safety services and their communities.

The FCC alleges that Tele Circuit’s telemarketers misrepresented their identities by stating that they were calling on behalf of the consumer’s current service provider. The telemarketers also apparently discussed a fictitious government program for low-income individuals and senior citizens as a way to solicit consumer consent.

Following such calls, the company switched consumers’ local and long-distance service providers—often called slamming—and, in some cases, added unauthorized charges to the consumer’s bill—often called cramming. Tele Circuit apparently disconnected local and long-distance service in some cases after not receiving payment for the unauthorized charges—with Tele Circuit allegedly refusing to reinstate service until the crammed charges were paid in full. This dangerous practice left vulnerable consumers without telephone service for extended periods of time.

In response to FCC requests, the company provided the agency with recordings that purported to verify consumer consent. The Commission followed up with the consumers supposedly on these recordings and was told that the recordings were fake or that the consumers did not have any such communications with Tele Circuit or its third-party verifier. Many of the third-party verification recordings provided to the Commission also failed to adequately confirm that the consumer wanted to change carriers and understood what was being asked. The company also apparently failed to fully respond to formal inquiries from the Commission as required.

Expo Showcases Solutions to Stop Illegal Robocalls

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By Patrick Webre | Chief, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau

One thing we hear regularly at the FCC is, “What can be done about robocalls?” And each day, we discuss ways that we can help reduce this scourge. One of these ways is the work we do with the Federal Trade Commission, the FTC.

In March we teamed up with the FTC for a Joint Policy Forum on robocalls, which included expert panels addressing challenges facing consumers, industry and regulators, along with solutions and tools for consumers (see video). The technology solutions included those still in development, along with many call-blocking resources that are available to consumers today.

Some of these tools and solutions will be on display at our next event for consumers: the FCC-FTC Stop Illegal Robocalls Expo. Exhibitors will include major telecom service providers as well as app developers and other innovators focused on blocking illegal robocalls, texts, and caller ID spoofing. The event is open to the public and is set for 10 a.m. to noon EDT on April 23, in the Pepco Edison Place Gallery at 702 8th St NW, Washington, D.C.

The Expo is designed to raise consumer awareness of call-blocking technologies and to provide a venue for technologists and service providers to showcase solutions for filtering unwanted calls, which not only annoy, but oftentimes seek to defraud, consumers.

Meanwhile, the FCC continues to develop new policy solutions, creating effective new rules and working with service providers to help them stem the tide of illegal robocalls and texts. We are also taking strong enforcement actions against illegal robocallers. We partner in these efforts with the FTC, sharing information to go after bad actors.

In addition, we are engaged with consumers directly, and we encourage consumers to file complaints with us about illegal robocalls they receive. When you file a complaint with the FCC, you may be alerting us to new scams that are just surfacing. Your complaint may also help us track the bad actors who use phone networks and technology to spoof numbers and commit fraud and identity theft.

For more information on tools and resources for consumers to block robocalls, as well as tips for how to deal with spoofed caller ID calls, visit fcc.gov/robocalls.

FCC proposes $82-Million finde for spoofed robocalls

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WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission on August 3 proposed an $82,106,000 fine against an individual and his companies which apparently made more than 21 million illegally spoofed robocalls in violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act. The law prohibits callers from deliberately falsifying caller ID information—a practice called “spoofing”—to disguise their identity with the intent to harm, defraud consumers, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.

The FCC found that Best Insurance Contracts and its owner/operator, Mr. Philip Roesel (doing business as Wilmington Insurance Quotes) apparently made millions of illegally spoofed
robocalls consumers around the country. Mr. Roesel of Wilmington, North Carolina displayed inaccurate caller ID information when making robocalls in an effort to sell health insurance, which especially targeted vulnerable consumers, including the elderly, the infirm, and low-income families.

In December 2016, a medical paging provider called Spok complained to Commission staff that robocalling campaigns were disrupting its network. Using information provided by Spok to
connect these calls to Mr. Roesel, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau subpoenaed Mr. Roesel’s call records from October 2016 through January 2017. Based on these records, FCC investigators verified 82,106 health insurance telemarketing calls made during that time used falsified caller ID information. These calls are the basis for today’s proposed fine.

The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009 and the Commission’s rules prohibit spoofing with the intent to cause harm, defraud, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. Consumers rely on caller ID information to make decisions about what calls to accept, ignore, or block. Accurate caller ID information is a vital tool that consumers use to protect their privacy, avoid fraud, and ensure peace of mind.

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau also issued a citation to Best Insurance Contracts and Mr. Roesel, doing business as Wilmington Insurance Quotes, for apparent violations of the Telephone
Consumer Protection Act’s robocall limits. Under the Act, the Commission must first provide a warning––in the form of a citation––to TCPA violators if the person or entity in question does not possess a license or authorization issued by the FCC. If those violations continue, they may be subject to additional fines.

The FCC has focused on malicious caller ID spoofing recently. Changes in technology have made it easier and cheaper for scammers to make robocalls and to manipulate caller ID
information. To address this consumer problem, the FCC has focused both on enforcement actions like today’s and on pursuing policies to help consumers and their service providers block
malicious robocalls.

In recent months, the Commission has taken a number of significant enforcement actions related to spoofing and robocalling. It proposed a $120 million fine against an individual who apparently used “neighbor spoofing” while making nearly 100 million robocalls to sell timeshares. It also fined a New Mexico company $2.8 million for providing a robocalling platform which also allowed easy caller ID manipulation.
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Consumer Labels for Broadband Services

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Comparing prices, performance and network practices of broadband service providers can be challenging, even for savvy consumers. With this in mind, the FCC created Open Internet transparency rules requiring providers to convey sufficient information for consumers to make informed choices about available broadband services. Based on recommendations from its Consumer Advisory Committee, the FCC provides templates for broadband labels – one for landline and one for mobile – that service providers may use to supply consumers with information about their services.

If a provider uses a broadband label template, here’s the type of information you can expect to see:

  • Pricing details, including all of the various charges that seem mysterious to consumers – overage fees, equipment fees, early termination fees, other monthly fees beyond service fees such as insurance, administrative fees, or regulatory recovery fees.
  • Monthly data allowance – namely, the carrier-defined plan limit after which consumers will incur additional charges.
  • Broadband speed and other performance metrics.
  • Network management practices – namely, precautions providers may take to manage heavy traffic on their networks.

Service providers who use the labels will satisfy the FCC’s requirement to make transparency disclosures in the proper format, or a format that meets the needs of consumers. However, providers may still be in violation of FCC rules if the content of their labels is misleading or inaccurate or if they make misleading or inaccurate statements to customers in ads or elsewhere. In such cases, consumers can file complaints with the FCC at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov.

The new rules will go into effect later this year, but service providers may begin using the broadband label templates anytime. The labels can serve as a helpful comparison shopping tool for consumers. Look for and consider them when you shop for service.

More information

Angry viewers flood FCC with complaints over ’2 Broke Girls’

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And The Big HoleMany viewers of the hit CBS show “2 Broke Girls” refuse to turn the other cheek — or the channel.

Instead, at least 91 “fans” of the show have made informal complaints to federal regulators over the last two years about the crude sexual double entendres and outright crassness of the show.

Among the complaints of dialogue containing such words and phrases as “shoot on my chest,” “penis alerts,” “bitches,” “girl-on-girl porn,” and “giving head,” according to the complaints sent to the FCC.

The bawdy show, created by Michael Patrick King, whose credits include “Sex and the City,” follows two young women — one rich, one poor — who work as waitresses and try to fulfill dreams of running their own cupcake business.

Read more at New York Post