Robo-caller fined for 96 million phone calls
A man in America was fined $120 million for making nearly 100 million robocalls. A robocall is made by a computer programme. The police say the man was a threat to public safety. His calls were illegal because many were made to emergency phones. Many other calls went to home telephones without the person being called wanting that call. They were nuisance calls. This is like spam e-mail, which is also unwanted and a nuisance. The man carried out "one of the largest and most dangerous illegal robocalling campaigns…ever". He made 96 million robocalls in three months. It was a "telemarketing scheme". He used a technique to trick people into thinking the calls were from a local telephone number. He also tricked people into believing the calls were from famous companies. Callers were passed on to call centres. These tried to sell them property. The man said he did nothing wrong. |