DOJ sues US telecom providers for connecting Indian robocall scammers

One provider connected 720 million calls in 23 days.

The US Department of Justice has filed lawsuits (PDF and PDF) against two small telecommunications providers that have allegedly connected hundreds of millions of fraudulent robocalls from Indian call centers to US residents. The feds want a New York federal judge to cut off the companies’ access to the US telephone network. The government says a judge has already issued a restraining order against one of the defendants.

Fraudulent robocalls are a serious problem in the United States—and the Justice Department says two US companies contributed significantly to the problem. Over a 23-day period in May and June of last year, for example, defendant TollFreeDeals connected 720 million calls to US numbers. According to the Justice Department, 425 million of the calls lasted for one second or less—suggesting that many were unwanted.

About time.  This is a warning shot across the bow of a couple of small operators.  But it is to let the bigger fish know that (at long last) finally something is being done.   This could have been started decades ago and nipped the problem in the bud.  But no one in the government gave a good Goddamn.

Now that this warning has been issued, I expect that things will get better faster…

…except for political robocalls which are sacrosanct!   Other than that I might even turn the ringer on for my home phone.!