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CHARLESTON -- The state of West Virginia joined a national initiative announced Tuesday by the Federal Trade Commission to fight illegal robocalls.
Operation Call it Quits is described as a major crackdown on illegal robocalls, including credit card interest rate reduction services, money-making opportunities and medical alert systems. Intended to curb the proliferation of pre-recorded telemarketing calls, the initiative with law enforcement includes consumer education about illegal robocalls and promotes technology to block robocalls and caller ID spoofing, used by scammers to mask their phone number and disguise it as a local number on the recipient's caller ID.
"We're all fed up with the tens of billions of illegal robocalls we get every year," Andrew Smith, director of the commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said at Tuesday's announcement. "Today's joint effort shows that combating this scourge remains a top priority for law enforcement agencies around the nation."
West Virginia's involvement will focus on consumer education and making consumers aware of call spoofing, robocalls and how to stop them, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said. More than 24 attorneys general and the District of Columbia are participating, he said.
"Robocalls are an annoyance that consumers experience every day," Morrisey said. "No matter how prevalent, these calls are illegal and often come from scammers trying to take consumers' money."
Call it Quits includes actions against operations around the country that are responsible for more than one billion calls to sell products and services, the commission said.
The operation includes four new cases and three new settlements just from the commission.
The Department of Justice filed two of the new cases on the commission's behalf. Collectively, the defendants were responsible for making more than a billion illegal robocalls to consumers nationwide, officials said.
Among the cases was Life Management Services in an action with the Florida attorney general. Life Management was accused of bombarding consumers with illegal robocalls to sell bogus credit card interest rate reduction services.
A court order announced on Tuesday permanently bans 17 Life Management defendants from engaging in telemarketing and debt relief services and imposes a judgment of $23.1 million against them, jointly and severally, which will be suspended after they turn over nearly all their assets.