@fne8w2ah “Two of the central players of the operation, Roy M. Cox and Aaron Michael Jones, were under lifetime bans against making telemarketing calls following lawsuits by the Federal Trade Commission and State of Texas.”
WHY AREN’T THEY IN JAIL
How much money were they making off telemarketing that they were fucking banned for life from doing it and they still did it?
Also:
At the time, the FTC said that Cox was issued "a $1.1 million civil penalty that will be suspended due to his inability to pay.
Oh ok, so this fine for more money will certainly mean something…
I feel like we have places to put people who ruin society. Was it mail, rail, shale? I dunno, set them free and bring me a coffee, bailiff.
I feel like at this point we just go full Spanish Inquisition and burn these motherfuckers at the stake.
Political theatre to make it seem like they’re doing something about the issue. When in reality, nothing changes.
Anyone got a number?
I have some very important information for them regarding expiration of their vehicle warranties.
That would be a good penalty for them. Their phone number(s) must always be public so anyone can call them whenever they want.
WHY ARE THEY STILL BREATHING?
I don’t understand why these people weren’t in jail already!
Yeah, I don’t get why this seemed to be such a huge undertaking. The phone companies certainly know who’s making all these calls on their networks.
The phone companies certainly know who’s making all these calls on their networks.
Exactly. If the networks faced consequences for knowingly routing and profiting off these illegal phone calls they would stop fairly quickly.
Cause they were complicit.
i assume someone was making money off this, and has made enough money to get rid of them so other people don’t make money…
It’s kind of amazing how we’d been answering phones when they rang for a century, until a handful of greedy wankers like these guys and the offshore “calling from Windows” folks started doing their thing a few years ago. Now only the elderly and folks required to answer for work even contemplate picking a call up.
I don’t answer my work phone anymore. Our company uses teams. So if it’s not a teams call, you can’t make me answer the phone.
I haven’t had a legitimate phone call on my work line in the last 8 years. Anyone who truly needs to talk to me has my cell number and several other ways to contact me.
I got so many spam calls I considered changing the number I’ve had for over 2 decades. So obnoxious.
I wouldn’t recommend that. I did it once for the same reason and got just as many spam calls plus debt collectors trying to reach the person who had the number before me.
Yeah I couldn’t bring myself to anyway, I’ve got an “interesting” number (think like 420-6969 but not that) that I wouldn’t want to give up…as if anyone cares about numbers anymore. But it was cool in high school!
It’s 531-8008 isn’t it.
I wish
It’s not your number. It’s all the numbers.
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What’s worse is whenever I Google the numbers I see them on lists on obscure incoherent randomly generated .ru sites which make me think they are some kind of phishing operation, but my carrier will gladly display as verified/check marked businesses complete with old/spoofed caller IDs 3-4x a day.
Completely unusable trash system, yet it’s critical national infrastructure.
I have a number from outside the area codes of where I live. Block every call from the area code of my number. Like, too bad if you legitimately call me from there but the spam is too damn high.
Any recommendations for software that will auto-block numbers that do not leave a message?
Good to see the FCC going after this kind of thing. Put them in jail even better.
I have my phone set up so the only numbers that chime the phone are those in my contact list. The abuse of voice and text on the cell network is rampant and it’s equivalent to trespassing.
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Shred all robo caller companies and give the owners jail time.
Now do political campaigns.
So, what tiny fraction of their profits does this fine represent?
Ya I appreciate the gesture but if this truly is the “biggest” robocall racket I have to imagine a 300M fine is a dropping the bucket
Not Like they will pay it anyway.
Not like they’ll seriously be expected to.
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That information does not appear in the article.
Probably like 1%, maybe 2%
Not gonna help. Not accepting calls from unknown numbers and/or automated filtering is the only way forward, the model of being able to just call anyone is broken.
Ban all robocalls, legal or illegal. If any business that needs to reach can leave a voicemail. I’ll decide then which should be deleted and which required a call back.
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Can someone make a TL;DR bot the TL;DR bot?
TLDR: the perpetrators were trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.
No joke, they actually were.
$300M feels like “Ahh we caught you now, bad boys, don’t let me catch you again. Now go have your lunch.”
These people should be punished harsher for all the lives they’ve destroyed intentionally.
How many of you have received these calls? I got a ton of them along with my husband and siblings.
I’ve started forwarding the calls to Google voice or if i accidentally pick the call, i use bixby’s auto answer.
Either eay the call drops in a hot second.
Good! Large fines create a meaningful deterrent for bad behavior.
Cox was banned from telemarketing in a 2013 settlement with the FTC, which accused him of sending “illegal robocalls offering credit card interest rate reduction programs, extended automobile warranties, and home security systems.” At the time, the FTC said that Cox was issued “a $1.1 million civil penalty that will be suspended due to his inability to pay.”
In 2017, the FTC obtained a similar telemarketing ban on Jones. He was also fined $2.7 million, but, as with Cox, the fine was “suspended based on his inability to pay.”
No fine is going to be paid this time either I imagine.
I’m not normally a proponent of prison for debtors, but in the case of these motherfuckers I’d be happy if they threw away the key.
suspended based on his inability to pay
If only he had some way to make money fast.
Depends on if they make so much money that 300M is just cost of doing business. There needs to be prison time for those involved.
Also $300M is the public fine number. Usually the actual fine is less than what is made public.
Maybe it’ll help as long as the fine is some % of their net income. Sweden does this, speeding tickets are a % of your income instead of a fixed fine, so someone with $10MM will still feel the burn.
can we do something about homelessness, drug addiction/rehabilitation, and income support for families first? Would love 300mil for that
Idgaf about the robocallers compared to our real social issues. This is miniscule
Are you against fines or against how they’re being allocated?
whoops misread the “fine” part
Scam callers and all those issues you listed are probably a statistic. These assholes scam seniors out of millions (probably billions worldwide) if someone loses their money, and can’t afford their mortgage or rent, they are much likely to end up on the street.