WASHINGTON - The United States filed two civil complaints today seeking temporary restraining orders in landmark cases against five companies and three individuals allegedly responsible for carrying many millions of fraudulent robocalls from foreign call centers to individuals in the United States, the Department of Justice announced. The complaints allege that the companies were warned numerous times that they were carrying fraudulent robocalls-including government and business imposter calls-but they continued to facilitate the delivery of these calls. The calls, most of which originated in India, led to substantial financial losses suffered by elderly and vulnerable victims in the United States.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Jeffrey A. Rosen, Deputy Attorney General, Jody H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Gary Barksdale, Chief Postal Inspector, United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General, Social Security Administration (SSA), made the announcement.
The two cases announced today contain similar allegations. The defendants in one case are Ecommerce National, LLC d/b/a TollFreeDeals.com, SIP Retail d/b/a sipretail.com, and their owner/operators Nicholas Palumbo and Natasha Palumbo of Scottsdale, Arizona. The defendants in the other case include Global Voicecom, Inc., Global Telecommunication Services Inc., KAT Telecom, Inc., aka IP Dish, and their principal Jon Kahen, of Great Neck, New York. In each case, the Department of Justice has sought an order immediately halting the defendants’ transmission of allegedly unlawful robocall traffic. A federal court has entered a temporary restraining order against the Global Voicecom defendants.
In the cases announced today, the United States alleges that the defendants operate voice over internet protocol (VoIP) carriers, which use a broadband internet connection rather than traditional phone lines to carry telephone calls. Numerous foreign-based call centers and VoIP carriers are alleged to have used the defendants’ VoIP carrier services to pass fraudulent robocalls to victims in the United States. The complaints specifically allege the defendants served as “gateway carriers," making them the entry point for foreign-initiated calls into the U.S. telecommunications system and that the defendants carried many millions of robocalls. For example, the complaint against the owners/operators of Ecommerce National d/b/a TollFreeDeals.com alleges that the defendants carried 720 million calls during a sample 23-day period, and that more than 425 million of those calls lasted less than one second because the calls did not connect or the recipients immediately hung up, indicating that they were robocalls. The complaint further alleges that many of the 720 million calls were fraudulent and used “spoofed," or faked, caller ID numbers. The calls facilitated by the defendants falsely threatened victims with a variety of catastrophic government actions, including termination of Social Security benefits, imminent arrest for alleged tax fraud and deportation for supposed failure to fill out immigration forms correctly.
“We are using all available tools and resources to stop foreign call center scammers-and for the first time their U.S.-based enablers-from conning elderly and vulnerable victims in New York and throughout the United States," stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “Protecting individuals from schemes that result in catastrophic losses to the victims is a priority of this Office and the Department of Justice."
“Robocalls are an annoyance to many Americans, and those that are fraudulent and predatory are a serious problem, often causing devastating financial harm to the elderly and vulnerable members of our society," stated Assistant Attorney General Hunt. “The Department of Justice will pursue to the fullest extent of the law individuals in the United States who knowingly facilitate imposter fraud calls, using both criminal and civil tools where appropriate. And we look forward to working closely with law enforcement colleagues in India and elsewhere around the world to identify those behind these calls so that we can bring them to justice."
“Anyone who engages in deceptive practices like imposter fraud should know, regardless of where they are, they will not go undetected and will be held accountable," stated USPS Chief Inspector Barksdale. “We will continue to work alongside the Department of Justice and our other partners to prevent and deter ongoing harm."
“Today’s events are the culmination of months of hard work, and a critical step in holding these and other companies accountable for being the link between overseas scammers and their victims," said Gail S. Ennis, Inspector General for the Social Security Administration. “We will continue to pursue those who exploit the U.S. telephone system and allow scammers to deceive consumers using the good name of Social Security. I want to thank the Department of Justice’s Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force and our law enforcement partners for their support throughout this investigation."
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bonni Perlin, Evan Lestelle and Dara Olds of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and Trial Attorneys Ann Entwistle and Bart Dunn of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch. The SSA’s Office of Inspector General, the USPIS, the Office of Inspector General for Tax Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigation’s El Dorado Task Force provided investigative support. The Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission provided pertinent data.
The claims made in the complaints are allegations that, if the case were to proceed to trial, the government must prove to receive a determination of liability.
Since President Trump signed the bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) into law, the Department of Justice has participated in hundreds of enforcement actions in criminal and civil cases that targeted or disproportionately affected seniors. In particular, in March 2019, the Department announced the largest elder fraud enforcement action in American history, charging more than 260 defendants in a nationwide elder fraud sweep. The Department has likewise conducted hundreds of trainings and outreach sessions across the country since the passage of the Act.
More information about the Department’s efforts to help American seniors is available at its Elder Justice Initiative webpage. For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or at 877-FTC-HELP. The Department of Justice provides a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime, which can be reached at https://www.ovc.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
