December 23, 2022
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a $300 million fine against Sumco Panama for an auto warranty robocall campaign, and because the robocallers met the criteria for egregious violations. The fine is the agency’s largest-ever penalty for unwanted calls.
Sumco Panama allegedly used pre-recorded voices “to press consumers to speak to a ‘warranty specialist'” to inquire about extending the warranty on their vehicle.
The FCC issued its first “K4 Notice” and “N2 Order” in July of this year, directing all US telephone providers to stop carrying traffic related to car warranty scam calls. “According to [spam blocking app] RoboKiller, this resulted in a massive, 99 percent drop in the volume of such calls since June,” the FCC wrote.
According to the company’s press release, it made over five billion calls in three months. That is enough to “call everyone in the United States 15 times.”
From January to March 2018, the company made approximately “5,187,677,000 calls to 550,138,650 wireless and residential phones using 1,051,461 unique caller ID numbers.”
The sources for this piece include an article in Engadget.
