To Tackle Robocalls From Illegally Spoofed Numbers, FCC Proposes Whopping $82M Fine

Earlier in August, in its war against illegal robocalling campaigns the Federal Communications Commission proposed another hefty fine. That is, a fine of 82 million dollars. The target of the FCC’s wrath? Mr. Philip Roesel, who wasn’t just calling a la Adele style. Instead, Roesel is accused of both illegal robocalling in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and illegal spoofing, which the FCC claims violated the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009 (TCIA). For his 21 million illegal robocalls, Roesel received merely a sternly worded citation from the FCC.

Following a recent trend, the FCC’s massive $82 million fine proposed against Roesel relied primarily on the TCIA’s prohibition against the transmission of misleading or inaccurate caller ID information, commonly referred to as spoofing, “with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value.” What’s unique about this proposed fine is two-fold. First, the monetary value of the fine itself is one to write home about. Second, this fine is yet another instance where the TCIA has been used by the FCC to issue a penalty against illegal robocallers. It’s a trend that the FCC started not too long ago but is likely to continue into the future for several reasons.