Los Angeles Times

Consumer Confidential: FCC slaps a huge fine on telemarketer caught 'spoofing,' but the industry still needs to step up

Federal authorities say it's an open-and-shut case. They say they caught an Arizona company "spoofing" phone numbers to make millions of telemarketing calls that falsely appeared on caller ID screens to be from local residents.

The Federal Communications Commission is so sure of its joint investigation with the Federal Trade Commission that it announced a proposed $37.5 million fine in the case.

"This is the commission's first major enforcement action against a company that apparently commandeered consumers' phone numbers," the FCC declared.

I don't doubt that authorities have uncovered something. But when I tracked down the various players in

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times7 min read
Indie Creatures To The Core, David And Nathan Zellner Cut Their Own Path Through The Wild
A family makes their way through a woodland forest, eventually stopping to set up camp. They have something to eat, go to sleep and then get up to do it all over again. Except this isn't a family on a wilderness getaway. It's a group of shaggy, mythi
Los Angeles Times7 min read
In Ukraine's Old Imperial City, Pastel Palaces Are In Jeopardy, But Black Humor Survives
ODESA, Ukraine — On a cool spring morning, as water-washed light bathed pastel palaces in the old imperial city of Odesa, the thunder of yet another Russian missile strike filled the air. That March 6 blast came within a few hundred yards of a convoy
Los Angeles Times2 min read
Kendrick Lamar Responds To Drake In New Diss Track 'Euphoria'
LOS ANGELES — Kendrick Lamar is having his say. Again. A week and a half after Drake dropped two songs in which he insulted the Compton-born rapper — diss tracks Drake released after Lamar attacked him last month in the song "Like That" — Lamar retur

Related Books & Audiobooks