Robocall companies will pay Ohio close to $4 million for pestering residents with illegal spam calls. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced a settlement in a lawsuit against 10 defendants. They targeted Ohioans with illegal robocalls promising reduced credit card interest rates.
“Not only were these fraudsters bombarding Ohioans with illegal robocalls, they were also peddling a bogus pitch and demanding upfront fees,” Yost said. “After identifying the fraudulent scheme, we went after every link of this corrupt chain to stop these people from doing it again.”
Ohio joined forces with the Federal Trade Commission to file a lawsuit back in 2019 against Globex Telecom, Inc. and its associates. The lawsuit claimed Globex knowingly facilitated illegal robocalls for Educare Centre Services, Inc.
Educare defrauded people all over the United States for millions of dollars with their debt relief scams. This is the first time a lawsuit targeted a phone service provider for knowingly taking part in a scheme.
Yost said, “I want this case to serve as a warning to others who knowingly play a role in facilitating robocall scams – we will continue to aggressively pursue and prosecute all parties involved.”
Increase Screening and Block Calls
As part of the settlement, Globex and its subsidiaries promised to:
- Heighten client screening, monitoring, and review. They’ll also rescreen any existing clients if they receive a subpoena or are under investigation.
- Block calls clients made from suspicious phone numbers including emergency numbers and unassigned numbers.
- Prevent calls using spoofing tech from getting through
- End their relationship with any telemarketer that receives over a certain number of complaints.
- Globex and its subsidiaries, including an Ohio VoIP service provider and two others, are subject to the following injunctive terms, among others
Ohio said that Canadian national Mohammed Souheil controlled both Globex and Educare. Souheil and some of the other defendants are no longer allowed to telemarket certain services in the U.S.
To report illegal robocalls, contact the Ohio Attorney General’s Office by calling 800-282-0515 or by texting “ROBO” to 888111.
