Attorneys general from nearly every US state filed a lawsuit against Avid Telecom on Tuesday, accusing the company of placing more than 7.5 billion robocalls to individuals on the National Do Not Call Registry.
As plaintiffs, attorneys general from every state except Alaska and South Dakota and the District of Columbia are participating.
States Sue Avid Telecom Over Billions of Unlawful Robocalls
Additionally, the attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against Avid Telecom owner Michael Lansky and vice president Stacey Reeves. According to the complaint, Avid Telecom received over 320 notifications about unlawful robocalls before the lawsuit was filed.
Per CBS News, the lawsuit alleged that the defendants prioritized profit over operating a law-abiding business. Neil Ende, the outside legal counsel for Avid Telecom, expressed the company's disappointment that the attorneys general did not express their concerns explicitly prior to submitting the lawsuit.
Prosecutors asserted that Avid should have been aware that its services were being exploited for fraudulent purposes, as per Washington Post. An industry body designated by the FCC to report nuisance calls issued at least 329 notifications to Avid, but company executives allegedly ignored the warnings.
According to a preliminary investigation of call records cited in the complaint, Avid facilitated approximately 21 billion calls to US phone numbers between December 2018 and January 2023, of which 93% lasted less than 15 seconds. The lawsuit was lodged in the US District Court for the District of Arizona, the location of Avid Telecom's headquarters.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes stated in a press release, "Every day, countless Arizona consumers are harassed and irritated by a relentless barrage of unwanted robocalls - and in some cases, these unlawful calls threaten consumers with lawsuits and imprisonment."
More alarmingly, many of these communications are scams designed to coerce terrified consumers, often elderly individuals, into handing over their hard-earned cash. According to the lawsuit, unlawful robocalls are the most common method of communication used by fraud artists.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, in 2022, phone schemes caused an average loss of $1,400 per victim. Attorneys general alleged that the company assisted in making hundreds of millions of calls using spoofed or invalid caller ID numbers.
It appeared that more than 8.4 million contacts originated in part from government and law enforcement agencies. According to the lawsuit, Avid Telecom sells data, phone numbers, dialing software, and expertise to assist its customers in creating mass robocalls.
Direct Inward Dialing is a service provided by the company to its consumers that allows respondents to fake their area codes to match those of their recipients. The method increases the likelihood that the recipient will answer the phone.
The company allegedly also sent or transmitted fraudulent communications regarding the Social Security Administration, Medicare, Amazon, and DirecTV, as well as auto warranties, employment opportunities, and credit card interest rate reductions.
Avid Telecom Expresses Cooperation with Attorney Generals
Mayes stated that despite receiving at least 329 notifications from the US Telecom-led Industry Traceback Group, which notifies providers about known and suspected unlawful robocalls sent across their networks, Avid Telecom continued to transmit these calls.
Avid Telecom, according to the attorneys general, is a Voice over Internet Protocol service provider that sells data, phone numbers, dialing software, and expertise to assist clients in making mass robocalls. From December 2018 to January 2023, it supported over 24.5 billion conversations.
The legal action was initiated by the nationwide, bipartisan Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, which is comprised of 51 attorneys general and the District of Columbia. The task force was established a year ago to investigate and pursue legal action against telecommunications companies that route large volumes of robocall traffic, said Fox News.
In this investigation, the Federal Trade Commission and the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General also assisted. Contrary to the allegations in the complaint, Avid Telecom operates in accordance with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations, according to the company's outside legal counsel, Neil Ende.
A court or regulatory agency has never found the company to have transmitted illegal traffic, and it is willing to meet with the attorney general, as it has on numerous occasions in the past, to further demonstrate its good faith and lawful conduct.
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