Telephone and Texting Compliance News: Enforcement Bureau Takes First-Of-Its-Kind Action Against Illegal Robocaller; Downstream Providers Must Block Traffic from One Eye LLC

Using the gateway provider rules it adopted in May 2022, on May 11, 2023, the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau (“Bureau”) issued its first Final Determination Order (“Order”) against a gateway provider found to have been transmitting suspected illegal traffic. The Order found that One Eye LLC (“One Eye”) consistently failed to comply with Commission call blocking rules for gateway providers and failed to respond to the Bureau’s Notification of Suspected Illegal Traffic and Initial Determination Order. Pursuant to the Order, any voice service provider immediately downstream from One Eye must block and cease accepting any traffic from One Eye by June 12, 2023.

As the Order further explains, One Eye is associated with PZ/Illum Telecommunications (“PZ/Illum”), which had previously received a cease-and-desist letter from the Enforcement Bureau for transmitting suspected robocalls. The Bureau found that the CEO of PZ/Illum had shut down that entity and created One Eye in the wake of the Bureau’s actions again PZ/Illum. With the assistance of the Industry Traceback Group, the Bureau determined that One Eye was facilitating a robocalling scam in which callers impersonated a major financial institution and claimed that “preauthorized orders” had been placed in consumers’ names.

As the accompanying News Release notes, this is a first-of-its-kind action and notable for relying on the Commission’s gateway provider rules. Chairwoman Rosenworcel indicated that while this may be a “historical” action, the Commission and Bureau will “continue to shut off providers that help scammers” — a task made potentially easier by the new rules adopted at the Commission’s May Open Meeting.

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