The Federal Trade Commission today announced a law enforcement crackdown on companies and individuals accused of violating the requirements of the federal Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, resulting in six settlements that collectively impose nearly $7.7 million in civil penalties, along with an additional complaint that will be filed in federal district court.
The actions, brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the FTC’s behalf, are against companies ranging from adjustable bed seller Craftmatic Industries, Inc. (Craftmatic) to alarm-monitoring provider ADT Security Services (ADT) and lender Ameriquest Mortgage Company (Ameriquest), and bring to 34 the number of cases filed by the FTC to enforce the DNC Rule, which was implemented in 2003. To date, consumers have put more than 145 million numbers on the Registry, indicating they do not want to receive calls from telemarketers at home.
“Consumers have made clear that they greatly value the Do Not Call Registry, and they must be able to depend on its privacy protection,” said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. “By bringing enforcement actions, like those announced today, we will ensure that the small number of bad actors pay a price for not adhering to the law and respecting consumers’ privacy requests.”
Recognizing its importance to consumers, the Commission recently announced that it will not remove telephone numbers from the Registry, pending final Congressional or agency action regarding whether to make registration permanent. When the Registry was created, the intention had been to wipe it clean every five years and require consumers to register again as a way of keeping the database up-to-date.
Each complaint and stipulated final order filed against the defendants named in the DNC enforcement sweep announced today is described below. In addition to the monetary relief, in each case the FTC has obtained injunctive relief that will prohibit the defendants from engaging in similar Do Not Call violations in the future. Separately, the Commission is working with DOJ to file a federal district court complaint against Global Mortgage Funding.
The Commission votes authorizing the filing of complaints and stipulated final orders by the DOJ on the FTC’s behalf against Craftmatic; ADT and its authorized dealers Alarm King and Direct Security Services; Ameriquest; and Guardian Communications, U.S. Voice Blasting, and Kevin Baker were 5-0 each. The vote authorizing the filing of a complaint – to be pursued by DOJ – against defendants Global Mortgage Funding and Damian Robert Kutzner was 5-0.
Since the DNC Registry was established in 2003, the FTC and DOJ have filed 34 law enforcement actions against individuals and companies that allegedly have violated the Registry provisions. In total, the two agencies have collected more than $16 million in civil penalties – the largest of which was $5.3 million from satellite television provider DirectTV in 2005 – as well as $8 million for consumer restitution or disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. DNC enforcement actions are part of the Commission’s enforcement of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, under which the FTC has brought complaints and filed orders on behalf of consumers for more than 20 years.
Tracey Schelmetic is editorial director for CUSTOMER INTER@CTION Solutions. For more articles please visit Tracey Schelmetic’s columnist page