Today:  FTC Acts to Stop Deceptive Robocalls,  Ohio Approves Overlay Plan for 937 Area Code 

FTC Acts to Stop Deceptive Robocalls  

The Federal Trade Commission charged several Florida-based defendants with deceiving small business owners by falsely claiming to represent Google, falsely threatening businesses with removal from Google search results, and falsely promising first-place or first-page placement in Google search results.  According to the FTC, the Point Break defendants have no relationship with Google, and yet they barraged consumers with robocalls threatening that Google will label their business “permanently closed” unless they “press one” to speak with a “Google specialist.” Telemarketers told those who responded that, for a purported one-time fee ranging from $300 to $700, they can “claim and verify” their Google listing and have unique “keywords” so their business will appear prominently when people search for their products or services.  Those who paid the fee received a follow-up call from the defendants’ telemarketers, pitching a second program that the defendants falsely claimed can guarantee top search result placements for a one-time payment of $949.99 and recurring monthly payments of $169.99 or $99.99. In addition, after they temporarily lost the ability to accept payments by credit card due to high chargeback rates (when consumers dispute credit card transactions), the defendants took money, usually $100, from at least 250 of their customers’ checking accounts without the customers’ advance knowledge, consent, or authorization, and with no apparent reason or justification.

The court appointed a temporary receiver over the operation and has frozen the defendants’ assets during litigation. The FTC seeks to end the alleged illegal practices and obtain money for return to consumers.  The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a temporary restraining order against the defendants on May 8, 2018.

Ohio Approves Overlay Plan for 937 Area Code

The PUCO has approved an overlay plan for the 937-area code that is expected to run out of available phone numbers in the third quarter of 2020.  All current 937-area code subscribers will continue to maintain their current number and 937 area code.  The PUCO directed the telecommunications industry to file an implementation and communications plan with the PUCO.  The plans should indicate when the overlay should take effect and include any communications the companies will use to notify their customers.

Upon implementation of the overlay, all new phone subscribers will be assigned the new yet-to-be-determined area code.  Additionally, all local calls will require dialing the full 10-digit phone number in order to complete local calls.  Following this approval of an overlay plan, the NANPA will assign the new, yet-to-be-determined area code to co-exist with the existing geographical boundaries of the 937 area code.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s daily blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.