RECENT NEWS
FCC Cracks Down on Student-Loan Scams: Orders Voice Service Providers to Stop Carrying Robocalls from “Student Loan Robocall Operation”
On December 8, 2022, the FCC ordered all voice service providers to terminate customer relationships or block traffic from illegal student-loan related scam robocalls. The “Student Loan Robocall Operation,” consisting of Urth Access LLC, Fire Data LLC, US Acquisitions LLC, Dawood & Dawood, Dawood and Company, their individual associates, and associated entities, was found to be responsible for millions of such calls. The Order warned that “if any voice service provider, after investigation of the suspected illegal robocall traffic identified in this Order, thereafter does NOT terminate a customer relationship or block the traffic, it will be required to provide a written report to the Bureau with the results of its investigation[.]”
The Order comes in response to an uptick in robocall scams regarding student loan payments following President Biden’s initial loan-forgiveness announcement on August 24, 2022. The Student Loan Robocall Operation “did not receive adequate consent of the called parties for its robocalls,” in violation of the TCPA. Some of the robocalls contained the following message:
“Hello this is to inform you that the Student Loan payment suspension has been extended to December 31 of this year. Also, everyone is now going to get $10,000 dismissed upon
income verification. If you do not…
