(The Center Square) – The Office of the Attorney General announced that Texas joined with the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of law enforcement partners nationwide, is conducting Operation Stop Scam Calls to help stop illegal telemarketing and robocalls that harass consumers.
“The joint state and federal law enforcement sweep aims to deter and punish illegal telemarketers and anyone else who enables their unlawful conduct, including the companies who hire them, lead generators who provide them with consumers’ contact information, and the Voice over Internet Protocol service providers who transmit their calls to U.S. consumers,” according to a July 18 news release.
As part of Operation Stop Scam Calls, the OAG previously filed a multistate lawsuit against Michael D. Lansky, LLC, a company that does business under the name Avid Telecom, its owner, and its vice president for the alleged initiation and facilitation of billions of robocalls, millions of those calls made to Texas numbers.
Texas was not alone in suing Avid Telecom. In May, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sued the company after making 7.5 billion illegal robocalls.
In March, the OAG shut down a Texas-based robocall operation, securing judgments totaling more than $244 million against two individuals operating an illegal robocall scheme.
The FTC advises those who receive robocalls to hang up and report the call at DoNotCall.gov.
This article First appeared in the center square