a Robocaller was fined $ 9.9 million for using caller impersonation The US Federal Communications Commission said Thursday. The FCC said the fraudulent caller made thousands of automated calls using pre-recorded racist and xenophobic threatening messages.
The calls were made with the victim’s family, a local journalist, and political candidates – even as an apparent attempt to influence a jury that was looking into a domestic terrorism case, the agency said. Caller ID makes the calls appear to come from local numbers.
“Not only were the calls illegal, they took the caller to new levels of atrocity,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “With today’s fine, we are demonstrating once again our commitment to hunting down those unlawfully bombing the American people.”
The FCC said the robocaller harassed people across Iowa, Idaho, Virginia, Florida and Georgia. The agency said he must pay the fine within 30 days, otherwise the matter will be taken to the Ministry of Justice.