Nearly every US state yesterday sued a telecom company accused of forwarding billions of illegal robocalls to millions of US residents on the do-not-call registry.
Avid Telecom, an Arizona-based company founded in 2000, “chose profit over running a business that complies with state and federal law,” according to a lawsuit led by Arizona AG Kris Mayes and joined by 47 attorneys general other states and the District of Columbia. The case involves every U.S. state except Alaska and South Dakota.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona against Avid Telecom, CEO Michael Lansky and VP of Operations and Sales Stacey Reeves. The lawsuit stems from the work of the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force of 51 Attorneys General.
“In more than 7.5 billion calls to phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, Avid Telecom used spoofed or invalid caller ID numbers, including more than 8.4 million calls that appeared to be from government and law enforcement agencies, as well as private companies,” according to a press release from the Arizona AG office.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial, a permanent injunction to prevent additional illegal robocalls, and financial penalties, including “restitution or other compensation on behalf of residents” for illegal calls. The lawsuit cites the federal Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and certain state laws regarding unfair and deceptive business practices.
Telephone services tailored for robocallers
Avid Telecom was accused of providing services to robocallers to facilitate the sending of illegal traffic. “Avid Telecom provided services tailored to the needs of robocalling customers by enabling them to place a large number of calls in rapid succession, billing only for the duration of completed calls – typically in increments of just 6 seconds – and with clear indications of illegal calling traffic,” the lawsuit said.
Avid Telecom is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) company that “provides services to residential customers who are the original callers who place robocall and telemarketing calls, as well as wholesale customers who are other voice service providers who route and transmit robocall and telemarketing calls,” the statement said. court case.
Of the 24.5 billion calls Avid sent or attempted to send between December 2018 and January 2023, about 93 percent were said to have lasted less than 15 seconds, an indicator of widespread robocalling. Robocalls reportedly include Social Security scams, Medicare scams, auto warranty scams, Amazon scams, DirecTV scams, credit card rate cut scams, and employment scams.
Avid Telecom received at least 329 traceback notifications from the Industry Traceback Group led by trade group USTelecom, meaning the defendants were “aware that Avid Telecom was broadcasting illegal robocalls,” according to the lawsuit. That wasn’t the only warning, as the Industry Traceback Group reportedly sent Avid Telecom “additional letters and correspondence…about the need to improve Avid Telecom’s traffic control procedures.”
Verizon shut down traffic
Avid Telecom would have received complaints from other telecom providers who received call traffic from Avid. “Defendants were aware of downstream providers that their customers were sending identified and suspected illegal traffic, including illegal robocalls,” the lawsuit said.
For example, Verizon sent “Lansky a letter in December 2020 about the ‘very large number’ of robocalls that Avid Telecom sent to Verizon,” the lawsuit said. Verizon later informed Lansky that it was completely blocking Avid Telecom’s traffic due to “unacceptable levels of illegal or unwanted robocalls.”
Lansky allegedly responded to Verizon by complaining about prices. “We term[inate] more than 10 million min[ute]A day full of voice traffic where Verizon won only a few dollars. As mentioned, we can send you more and better traffic if the prices are better,” he reportedly wrote.
