In the United States, regulators are tightening down on “extended car warranty” telemarketing fraudsters with actions that might result in a lifetime ban from the automotive warranty sector.
American Vehicle Protection Company (AVP), CG3 Solutions, and Tony Gonzalez Consulting Group, together with their respective owners, would be permanently barred from the extended automotive warranty sector and all outbound telemarketing under court orders proposed on March 23.
AVP and two related organizations were charged with violating the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Regulation in February 2022.
The FTC asserted in its lawsuit that AVP offered bogus “bumper-to-bumper” and “complete vehicle” coverage plans to clients for between $2,800 and $3,300. According to the FTC, AVP made hundreds of thousands of unwanted calls to American customers (including those on the federal Do Not Call Registry) and did not adhere to its cancellation and refund policy of 30 days. The complaint alleges that since 2018, these crooks have defrauded American customers of approximately $6 million.
The three corporations, as well as individual defendants Tony Allen Gonzalez and Charles Gonzalez (who both own and/or operate the enterprises), have consented to the proposed court orders. Due to the defendant’s incapacity to pay, a majority of the $6.6 million judgment has been postponed. The FTC will pursue its case against another defendant, Kole Consulting Group and its owner and manager, Daniel Kole.
Tony Allen and Charles Gonzalez agreed to the court directives.
A research by the spam-blocking application Robokiller reveals that things are really improving, despite the fact that it might frequently feel hard to totally avoid receiving spam calls. In the United States, the number of robocall reports decreased from 1 billion to less than 7 million between June and September 2022. As part of its continuous efforts to curb bothersome car warranty spam calls, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took action against another auto warranty fraud robocall operation last year, proposing its largest-ever punishment (almost $300 million).
The FCC has also introduced new legislation requiring mobile service providers to restrict automated text messages that are “very likely to be unlawful” in order to combat robotext spam, which currently outpaces robocalls by a wide margin.