The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) strengthened its actions yesterday against One Owl Telecom, saying that the gateway provider hasn’t complied with the agency’s robocaller blocking rules.
According to the FCC, One Owl operated as a gateway provider for international robocalls that allegedly bombarded consumers without their consent with prerecorded messages about fictitious orders purportedly from “ACM Trading LLC.”
While some calls asked consumers to confirm their orders, other calls said that a “pre-authorized order” had been “placed on your name.” According to the Industry Traceback Group established by USTelecom to trace calls back to their origin, the calls came from overseas with One Owl as the originator or gateway provider for the calls.
The FCC had already taken action against two other entities closely associated with One Owl: Illum Telecommunication Ltd. and One Eye LLC. Though operating under different corporate names, Illum Telecommunication and One Eye allegedly shared personnel, IP addresses and customers.
By issuing an initial determination order against One Owl, the FCC’s enforcement bureau put the company one step closer to mandatory blocking from other providers, which already happened to its predecessor corporate entity, One Eye. If One Owl does not begin combatting illegal robocalls, the commission will order all immediate downstream providers to block all traffic from One Owl.
In August, the FCC said One Eye LLC continued to facilitate illegal robocalls from overseas as a gateway provider, flouting FCC warnings to cease carrying unlawful traffic. As a result, the FCC issued an initial determination order and a first-of-its-kind RoboBlocking Order.
“It’s not right when illegal robocalls flood our phones. We need to stop them in every way we can,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said about the action against One Owl Telecom in a prepared statement. “Today’s action takes out a carrier responsible for these scam calls.”
“But we won’t let up here.” Rosenworcel emphasized. “We have to keep at it until we get all of this junk off the line.”
