Two Texas men, and their companies, are facing the biggest fines ever handed down by the FCC for making a billion illegal robocalls
The FCC has proposed a $225 million fine for John C. Spiller and Jakob A. Mears whose companies Rising Eagle and JSquared Telecom made those billion calls in 2019 pretending to be major, well-known insurance companies like Aetna or Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Spiller admitted to the USTelecom Industry Traceback Group that he made millions of spoofed calls per day and knowingly called consumers on the Do Not Call list as he believed that it was more profitable to target these consumers.
The fine is one part of an expanded effort to reign in automated sales calls the FCC announced on Wednesday. It’s the largest fine in the commission’s history.
According to reports, the number of spam calls received in the U.S. rose 26% in the last year, according to Robokiller, an anti-spam call app.
When the telemarketers faked the calls to make them look as if they came from those insurance companies, the real companies got angry calls and were named in lawsuits filed by consumers, many of whom were on the federal Do Not Call registry.
The proposed fine is not a done deal because both Mears and Spiller have the option of appealing.
The FCC has also announced they have formed a “Robocall Response Team” with 51 FCC employees which will coordinate anti-robocall efforts.
The FCC is reaching out to the FTC, DOJ, and state attorneys general to tackle the issue.