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Two telecom carriers and its owners will no longer be able to continue facilitating millions of fraudulent robocalls targeting vulnerable people particularly seniors across the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), a federal court in New York entered a Consent Decree permanently shutting down the operations of Ecommerce National LLC and SIP Retail doing business as tollfreedeals.com and sipretail.com, respectively.

Under the terms of the Consent Decree, are permanently prohibited from using the U.S. telephone system to deliver prerecorded messages through automatic means, carry voice-over-internet protocol calls destined for phones in the United States, and not to provide any U.S. phone numbers to other individuals or entities.

The owners of the two telecom carriers, spouses Nicolas and Natasha Palumbo of Arizona are also prohibited from engaging in similar conduct. They are permanently prohibited from serving as employees, agents, or consultants to any person or entity engaged in the activities enumerated above.

The defendants knowingly robocalls impersonating SSA, threatening victims

Earlier this year, the Justice Department filed a civil complaint against the defendants for allegedly knowingly allowing individuals and entities overseas to transmit fraudulent robocalls to people across the U.S. through their network.

These millions of fraudulent robocalls included those impersonating the Social Security Administration (SSA), threatening recipients of the calls with arrests or asset seizures if they did not immediately send funds to the caller.

The Justice Department also accused the defendants of selling U.S. telephone numbers to foreign entities, which were used as part of the massive fraudulent robocalling scheme that led to significant financial losses to seniors and other vulnerable victims across the United States.

In a written opinion issued in March, the District Court for the Eastern District of New York wrote, “Defendants’ failure to take meaningful action in response to these complaints demonstrates reckless indifference to the fraud they were enabling.  Over time, it became increasingly clear that they knew or should have known the complaints evidenced a widespread pattern of fraudulent calls being transmitted over their network.”

DOJ is “committed to protecting vulnerable Americans”

In a statement, DOJ Civil Division Assistant Attorney General Ethan Davis said, “The Department is committed to protecting vulnerable Americans, particularly America’s seniors, from those who seek to steal their hard-earned savings. The Department will pursue not only those who place fraudulent robocalls but also those who knowingly facilitate such calls.”

On the other hand, Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme commented, “The Consent Decree is a milestone in protecting the public, especially elderly and other vulnerable persons, from predatory robocall schemes that can cause catastrophic losses to victims in this district and throughout the country.”

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