FTC Busts Two Major Robocall Organizations Guilty Of Spamming People On Do Not Call Registry
Two more robocallers have bitten the dust. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has just filed complaints against two robocall organizations that have allegedly helped to make billions of robocalls between March 2009 through May 2016. Many of the calls were to numbers on the “Do Not Call” Registry.
The two main defendants in the complaints are Justin Ramsey and Aaron Michael Jones. Ramsey is purportedly an officer of Data Guru LLC, Tailbone Security LLC, and Prime Marketing LLC. Jones, who is also known as Michael Aaron Jones and Mike Jones, has claimed to be the officer, owner, and manager of at least ten supposed companies. Their companies attempted to sell home security systems, extended auto warranties, search engine optimization programs, etc. Both of the defendants have been in trouble with the law before. Ramsey, Jones, and their co-defendants have agreed to reach financial settlements with the court and are supposedly following their court-ordered bans on robocall activities.
According to the FTC, Ramsey and his co-conspirators, “illegally blasted millions of robocalls in 2012 and 2013 to consumers on the DNC Registry selling home security systems or generating leads for home security installation companies. In just one week in July 2012, the defendants allegedly made more than 1.3 million illegal calls to consumers nationwide, 80 percent of which were to numbers listed on the DNC Registry.”
Jones and his numerous companies made an equally astonishing number of robocalls. According to the FTC, Jones made more than 329 million robocalls, including 32 million to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry in 2014 alone. The overall number decreased to 222 million calls in 2015, but the number of calls to DNC numbers increased to 40 million. Robocalls were made to numbers in all fifty states.
The FTC has been hard at work this past year at getting rid of robocalls. Last August, AT&T, Apple, Comcast, Google, Verizon, and other major companies joined together to create the “Robocall Strike Force”. The group's purpose is to work with the FCC to create “concrete plans to accelerate the development and adoption of new tools and solutions” that would eliminate robocalls.
The two main defendants in the complaints are Justin Ramsey and Aaron Michael Jones. Ramsey is purportedly an officer of Data Guru LLC, Tailbone Security LLC, and Prime Marketing LLC. Jones, who is also known as Michael Aaron Jones and Mike Jones, has claimed to be the officer, owner, and manager of at least ten supposed companies. Their companies attempted to sell home security systems, extended auto warranties, search engine optimization programs, etc. Both of the defendants have been in trouble with the law before. Ramsey, Jones, and their co-defendants have agreed to reach financial settlements with the court and are supposedly following their court-ordered bans on robocall activities.
According to the FTC, Ramsey and his co-conspirators, “illegally blasted millions of robocalls in 2012 and 2013 to consumers on the DNC Registry selling home security systems or generating leads for home security installation companies. In just one week in July 2012, the defendants allegedly made more than 1.3 million illegal calls to consumers nationwide, 80 percent of which were to numbers listed on the DNC Registry.”
Jones and his numerous companies made an equally astonishing number of robocalls. According to the FTC, Jones made more than 329 million robocalls, including 32 million to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry in 2014 alone. The overall number decreased to 222 million calls in 2015, but the number of calls to DNC numbers increased to 40 million. Robocalls were made to numbers in all fifty states.
FTC Headquarters
The FTC has been hard at work this past year at getting rid of robocalls. Last August, AT&T, Apple, Comcast, Google, Verizon, and other major companies joined together to create the “Robocall Strike Force”. The group's purpose is to work with the FCC to create “concrete plans to accelerate the development and adoption of new tools and solutions” that would eliminate robocalls.
