The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recommended a fine of $220,210 against an Ohio man who allegedly created a fake broadband company in order to scam low-income consumers. The alleged crimes took place between May and August of 2021.
The bogus company, Cleo Communications, allegedly scammed people through the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program. The man and the company “apparently willfully and repeatedly engaging in conduct that violated the federal wire fraud statute and the Commission’s rules,” the FCC said.
“While Cleo never filed for or received disbursements from the EBB Program, Cleo promised consumers that they would receive EBB Program-discounted broadband services and devices in exchange for online electronic payments to Cleo, but the company never delivered the broadband services or devices,” the FCC said. “Cleo’s schemes to defraud consumers under the pretense of participating in the EBB Program caused severe harm not only in monetary terms to the low-income consumers it preyed upon but also to the trust and goodwill this or any program needs to achieve its purposes effectively.”
The EBB was set up in 2021 to help low-income people get emergency access to broadband services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The FCC said that the scam took advantage of special rules put in place during the pandemic. The EBB was discontinued and replaced by the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in December 2021.
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