WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sent joint letters with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to three companies providing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, warning them that routing and transmitting illegal coronavirus-related scam robocalls is itself illegal and may lead to federal law enforcement against them, the FTC stated.
The agencies allege that two of the providers are routing coronavirus-related fraud robocalls originating overseas. The letters follow three joint FTC/FCC warning letters sent to VoIP service providers in early April. The latest letters, like the ones sent last month, alert the recipients that they have been identified as routing and transmitting coronavirus-related scam robocalls, and tell them to stop such conduct immediately or face potential law enforcement actions.
“We never tolerate illegal robocallers, but it’s especially abhorrent when scammers exploit pandemic-related anxiety,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons. “These VoIP providers must stop allowing illegal scam calls to reach consumers.”
‘Expect Shutdown’
“We expect nothing less from these providers than shutting down this scam robocall traffic,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “These companies can access our nation’s phone networks to provide legitimate services to consumers and businesses, not to facilitate floods of scam robocalls. They need to stop this traffic and not let it back on their networks—or face losing their access to the American phone system.”
The agencies sent the letters to the following providers: Intelepeer Cloud Communications, LLC of San Mateo, Calif.; PTGi International Carrier Services, Inc. of Washington, D.C. and RSCom Ltd. of Aurora, Ontario, Canada.