The FCC is proposing a $4,492,500 fine for voice service provider Telnyx for allegedly violating the “know customers” rule and enabling robocall scams. The con artist blew the scam game in his face, where FCC officials are impersonating FCC officials when they make the unfortunate mistake of targeting real FCC employees with robocalls.
Ars Technica Report RoboColor, disguised as an FCC employee, carelessly targeted real FCC staff and their families in a scam aimed at intimidating and scaming unsuspecting victims. The incident that took place on the night of February 6, 2024 encouraged the FCC to take prompt action against voice service providers who are allegedly responsible for enabling illegal robocalls.
The FCC is proposing a substantial fine of $4,492,500 to Telnyx, a Chicago-based company that offers voice services and APIs. The agency alleges that Telnyx violated the “KYC (KYC)” rule and promoted robocall fraud by providing access to the call service without properly verifying the customer's identity I'm doing it.
According to the FCC, RoboColor used artificial voice claiming it was from the “FCC Fraud Prevention Team” and instructed recipients to press a specific key to talk to the representative or schedule a callback . However, the FCC has made it clear that no such “fraud prevention team” exists in the agency. One victim reported being connected to an individual who requested a $1,000 payment with a Google gift card to avoid prison time suspected of being a “crime against the state.”
The robocall scheme, which lasted only two days, was carried out by two Telnyx customers using Christian Mitchell and Henry Walker. These customers were called “Mariocop accounts” in the FCC's notice regarding the FCC's Forfeiture Liability (NAL) and were paid for Telnyx's services using Bitcoin, providing fake identities. Records obtained by the FCC through the subpoena revealed that one Mariocop account made 1,029 calls between February 6th and 7th, while the other made 768 calls on February 6th .
The FCC alleges that Telnyx has failed to properly verify the legitimacy of the limited identification information provided by Mariocop account owners, such as physical addresses in Canada and IP addresses in Scotland and UK. The agency said Telnyx “accepted the “name and physical address” at face value without requesting support or independent verification.”
In response to the FCC's allegations, Telnyx CEO David Casem expressed surprise at the agency's decision and denied the charges. Casem said the FCC “everything” was “everything” than was required for KYC and customer due diligence procedures. He also claims that the FCC had not previously requested “perfection” when halting illegal traffic, and Telnyx took swift action to block illegal calling activities within hours of detection. He claimed that it was.
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Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News, which covers the issues of freedom of speech and online censorship.
