On September 30, the FTC announced a $1 million penalty to resolve allegations that a company and its subsidiary allegedly made tens of millions of illegal telemarketing calls to consumers, including calls to numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry, and misrepresented the nature of those calls as responses to inquiries about Social Security benefits. The complaint, brought under Section 5(a) of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, alleged that the defendants operated a common enterprise since at least 2013 targeting lower-income and disabled consumers through unlawful campaigns.
The judgment imposed a $2 million civil penalty, with $1 million suspended upon timely payment within one year. The FTC secured a stipulated order that permanently restrains the defendants from initiating or assisting in any outbound telephone call that delivers a prerecorded message, except for limited safe harbor exceptions, and generally from making calls to any person at a number on the National Do Not Call Registry. The order also mandated due diligence and monitoring of lead generators to prevent misrepresentations.
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