Arizona Telecoms Firm Sued By 48 States For 21 BILLION Robocalls

An telecoms company is being sued for allegedly facilitating billions of 'harassing' robocalls, including many that appeared to be scams and spoofed numbers. 
Attorneys general from every state apart from and filed a lawsuit against Avid Telecom, accusing the company of making a total of 21 billion robocalls between 2018 and 2023.
The complaint claims that 7.5 billion of these calls were to people on the national Do Not Call Registry, in violation of consumer laws. 
Seniors and vulnerable customers were allegedly targeted by scam calls about Social Security and Medicare - handing over millions of dollars to fraudsters. 
According to the lawsuit, filed by a coalition of attorneys general from 48 states, Avid Telecom also facilitated more than 8.4 million spoof calls pretending to be from government and law enforcement agencies and private companies. 

The complaint claims the firm transmitted 7.5 billion calls to people on the national Do Not Call Registry, in violation of consumer laws
Illegal robocalls - a call that plays a recorded message where the company has not got the recipient's permission - are the most common contact method for scammers.  
The Do Not Call Registry, which around 250 million Americans are signed up to, is designed to field these unwanted calls.  
In 2022, phone scams yielded an average loss of $1,400 per person, according to the Federal Trade Commission. 
Of the 21 billion calls facilitated by Avid Telecom in the US between December 2018 and January 2023, 93 percent of them lasted less than 15 seconds, according to a preliminary review of call records cited in the complaint. 
Many of these calls purported to be from government agencies, the suit claims, or were scam calls about services such as Amazon, DirecTV and credit card interest rate reduction. 
The firm reportedly allowed callers to fake area codes, a process known as , to increase the odds of the recipient picking up the phone. 
The attorneys general are also suing Avid Telecom owner Michael Lansky and www.difacomputer.com the company's vice president, Stacey Reeves - claiming the company received 329 notifications about illegal robocalls before the suit was filed. 
Company executives allegedly ignored the warnings from an industry group designated by the Federal Communications Commission to report spam calls.
'Defendants chose profit over running a business that conforms to state and federal law,' the lawsuit claimed. 
'Defendants could have chosen to implement effective and meaningful procedures to prevent—or even significantly mitigate—the perpetration of illegal behavior onto and across Avid Telecom's network but chose not to do so.'
The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the District of Arizona, where the firm is based.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes alleged nearly 197 million of the robocalls were made to Arizona phone numbers between December 2018 and January 2023.
She said in a statement: 'Every day, countless Arizona consumers are harassed and annoyed by a relentless barrage of unwanted robocalls - and spam in some instances these illegal calls threaten consumers with lawsuits and arrest.
'More disturbingly, many of these calls are scams designed to pressure frightened consumers, often senior citizens, into handing over their hard-earned money. 
'Such a blatant disregard for consumer protection laws will not be tolerated and violators of these laws will be held accountable.' 
Attorneys general from every state apart from Alaska and South Dakota have filed a lawsuit against the Arizona-based company
The firm has been accused by attorneys general from 48 states of ignoring warnings about robocalls
 approached Avid Telecom for comment. 
Neil Ende, Avid Telecom's outside legal counsel, told the company was disappointed that the attorneys general didn't communicate their concerns directly before filing the lawsuit.
'While the company always prefers to work with regulators and law enforcement to address issues of concern, as necessary, the company will defend itself vigorously and vindicate its rights and reputation through the legal process,' he said.
'Contrary to the allegations in the complaint, Avid Telecom operates in a manner that is compliant with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations,' Ende added.
'The company has never been found by any court or regulatory authority to have transmitted unlawful traffic and it is prepared to meet with the Attorneys General, as it has on many occasions in the past, to further demonstrate its good faith and lawful conduct.'