Recently, the US Federal Trade Commission administered a warning to nine different VoIP service providers against assisting and facilitating illegal robocalls that target individuals and capitalize on public anxiety surrounding the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The FTC warns that the robocalls prey on consumer fear of the pandemic to disseminate false or misleading information, according to the FTC statement. The nine VoIPs who were issued a warning were allegedly involved in illegal telemarketing campaigns regarding the pandemic.
The nine companies are required to email the FTC all specific actions that the organizations are taking to ensure that their services are not involved in any COVID-19 related schemes that break a past law called the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The warnings were issued to the following companies: Bluetone Communications LLC, Comet Media Inc, iFly Communications, J2 Web Services Inc, SipJoin Holding Corp, Third Rock Telecom, VoIP Max, VoIPTerminator Inc, and Voxbone US LLC. The companies previously mentioned were also informed of civil enforcement actions taken by the DoJ against the providers over committing wire fraud by transmitting robocalls that impersonate federal government agencies.
Read More: FTC Warns VoIP Providers to Stop Facilitating Coronavirus Scams
