First State Times

https://news.delaware.gov/files/2021/01/News.Delaware.Gov-graphics-e1612815239649.jpg 

Attorney General Kathy Jennings on May 23 sued Avid Telecom for allegedly initiating and facilitating billions of illegal robocalls. Avid Telecom sent or transmitted more than 7.5 billion calls to telephone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, and made 27 million calls to Delawareans. 

“We often think of illegal robocalls as a nuisance, but they are also predatory and can be catastrophic when they ensnare innocent consumers in scams,” said AG Jennings. “This lawsuit takes aim at one of the worst offenders in this space, and is a direct result of the states working together on this issue. I’m grateful to all the attorneys, investigators, and staff who worked on this complaint and look forward to stating our case in Court.”

The lawsuit names Michael D. Lansky, LLC — which does business as Avid Telecom — its owner Michael Lansky, and its vice president Stacey S. Reeves.

Avid Telecom is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider that sells data, phone numbers, dialing software, and/or expertise to help its customers make mass robocalls. It also serves as an intermediate provider and allegedly facilitated or helped route illegal robocalls across the country.

Between December 2018 and January 2023, Avid sent or attempted to transmit more than 24.5 billion calls; more than 90 percent of those calls lasted less than 15 seconds. Further, Avid helped make hundreds of millions of calls using spoofed or invalid caller ID numbers, including more than 8.4 million calls that appeared to be coming from government and law enforcement agencies, as well as private companies. 

Avid Telecom allegedly sent or transmitted scam calls about Social Security Administration scams, Medicare scams, auto warranty scams, Amazon scams, DirecTV scams, credit card interest rate reduction scams, and employment scams. Examples of some of these scam calls are available to listen to here and here. 

Today’s legal action arises from the nationwide Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force of 51 bipartisan attorneys general, including AG Jennings. The task force is investigating and taking legal action against those responsible for routing significant volumes of illegal robocall traffic into and across the United States. The Federal Trade Commission and the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General provided investigative assistance in this matter.

Original source can be found here.