One week after the FTC sent nine warning letters to VoIP service providers and other companies, warning them that they may be assisting illegal telemarketing relating to the Coronavirus, the FTC and the FCC have sent joint warning letters to three of the providers. According to the jointly signed letters, each of the three companies is apparently routing and transmitting COVID-19 scam robocall traffic, including robocalls with offers of fraudulent home virus testing kits or HVAC cleaning services. Each letter ends with a bold font warning that "If after 48 hours of issuance of this letter [the gateway provider] continues to route or transmit harmful robocall traffic from [source], the FCC will authorize other U.S. voice providers to block all calls from [the gateway provider] and take any other steps as needed to prevent further transmission of unlawful calls from [the gateway provider], and we will evaluate whether further action is appropriate in connection with your activity."
The FTC and FTC also sent a joint letter to US Telecom, thanking the industry's own trade association for its help "to identify and mitigate fraudulent robocalls that are taking advantage of the national health crisis related to the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)." The letter also includes a bold font 48 hour warning that if each of the three gateway providers contacted in the jointly signed letters "continues to facilitate the entry of unlawful robocalls onto American networks—the FCC will: (1) authorize other U.S. providers to block all calls coming from that gateway or originating provider; and (2) authorize other U.S. providers to take any other steps as needed to prevent further transmission of unlawful calls originating from the originator(s) listed above."
As noted by the FCC's Chairman, "When it comes to scam robocalls, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."
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