Federal call extension (FCC proposes to impose a $10 million fine on automatic callers)

On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission fined nearly $10 million to an ATM suspected of spreading "false allegations" against political candidates in California.

Kenneth Mercer and his telemarketing company, Marketing support Systems, made about 47000 illegal and fraudulent silent calls before last year's California congressional primaries, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The calls were kept for two days and looked like they were from HomeyTel, an independent telemarketing company associated with Moser.

Blame a specific candidate over the phone

"these phone charges are for a specific candidate who has been investigated and rejected by the San Diego County Public Security Department," FCC said in a press release.

According to FCC's press release, Moser lied about HomeyTel's phone number "with the intention of causing harm to the company and other companies." The pre-recorded messages are said to have been sent without permission, in violation of the telephone Consumer Protection Act or TCPA. If investigators rely only on fraudulent caller ID numbers, they may foolishly assume that HomeyTel is responsible for violations.

In the past few years, the Federal Communications Commission has proposed millions of dollars in automatic phone fines. In March, the Wall Street Journal reported that the agency had fined more than $208 million for illegal calls since 2015, but collected only $6790. The Federal Communications Commission has the power to issue fines, but not to enforce confiscation orders. The Ministry of Justice must deal with these cases. No matter how vicious their intentions are, many automatic cashiers come from small institutions that are unable to pay such high fines.