Attorney General Bonta Joins Federal, State Partners in Fight Against Illegal Telemarketing Calls

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined the Biden Administration and state attorneys general nationwide in highlighting a slew of actions taken to combat the scourge of illegal telemarketing, including robocalls. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Operation Stop Scam Calls” is a bipartisan initiative that draws attention to efforts by law enforcement agencies across the U.S. to crack down on illegal telemarketing targeting operations. The California Department of Justice (DOJ) helped launch the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force last year and is actively fighting to protect consumers from predatory telemarketers. Among DOJ’s efforts highlighted in “Operation Stop Scam Calls” is a lawsuit filed against a national company over billions of illegal robocalls, and a successful judgment in a case against a Southern California retail chain that defrauded its largely Latino immigrant customer base through scam telemarketing calls and other misconduct.

"Unwanted telemarketing calls, including robocalls, are more than just a nuisance — they’re often illegal," said Attorney General Rob Bonta. "Not only are they a source of everyday annoyance for Californians, they can also lead to serious financial harm. California is proud to stand with the Biden Administration and with partners across the nation in our efforts to end the menace of scam calls and hold the bad actors behind them accountable."

“Today, government agencies at all levels are united in fighting the scourge of illegal telemarketing. We are taking action against those who trick people into phony consent to receive these calls and those who make it easy and cheap to place these calls,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC and its law enforcement partners will not rest in the fight against illegal telemarketing.”

DOJ is committed to safeguarding Californians from bad actors who target them with deceptive marketing practices and illegal robocalls.

• In May, DOJ announced a multistate lawsuit against telecommunications company Avid Telecom for allegedly initiating and facilitating billions of unlawful robocalls in California and around the country. Those robocalls included Social Security Administration scams, Medicare scams, and employment scams.
• In February, DOJ secured a court ruling finding that Curacao, a retail store chain with 10 locations in Southern California, solicited and telemarketed illegal insurance and defrauded its largely Latino immigrant customer base. The court imposed nearly $8 million in civil penalties against both the company and its owner for illegal sales of insurance products.
• In March 2022, DOJ secured a court ruling, ordering Ashford University, an online school, and its parent company Zovio, Inc., to pay more than $22.37 million in penalties, for, among other things, making tens of thousands of deceptive telemarketing calls to prospective students to get them to enroll.
• In December 2021, DOJ announced the criminal sentencing of four individuals for their roles in perpetrating a scam that preyed on borrowers struggling to repay their student loans. The scheme relied on repeated telephone solicitations to distressed borrowers to convince them to sign up for costly, but worthless, loan-payment reduction plans.

California’s actions, along with the work of its state and federal partners, including the FTC, are aimed at helping consumers block unwanted telemarketing calls and holding predatory telemarketers accountable.

Advice related to robocalls and other unwanted calls, as well as information on how to spot and avoid phone scams can be found at ftc.gov/calls, which is also available in Spanish at ftc.gov/llamadas. The FTC also has a new educational webpage at ftc.gov/RobocallScams that includes examples of real illegal robocalls and steps people can take to avoid robocall scams.