HARRISBURG (TNS) — “We’ve been trying to reach you concerning your car’s extended warranty.”
Nearly everyone’s received a robocall like that. And such marketing calls are illegal if you asked to opt out of them.
Pennsylvania Attorney General and state governor hopeful Josh Shapiro announced Thursday his office is suing Fluent, Inc, a New York-based company, for its role in causing unwanted robocalls to be made to Pennsylvania customers.
The lawsuit alleges Fluent and its subsidiaries collected personal information like telephone numbers and sold them to telemarketing companies, who then placed robocalls to residents.
“If a Pennsylvania resident registers their phone number on the ‘Do-Not-Call’ List, it’s illegal for telemarketers to call them,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “These invasive robocalls are a growing problem – Fluent’s phony actions cannot be used to obtain consumer’s consent to receive unwanted calls.”
Fluent received customers’ information when they registered for promotional offers, like gift cards for Amazon and Walmart.
Customers wouldn’t just receive the free gifts, however—they were also getting signed up to receive telemarketing calls unrelated to the promotion without their knowledge, the lawsuit said.
From 2018 to 2021, more than 4.2 million Pennsylvania residents registered their information on one of Fluent’s websites.
This allowed Fluent to direct telemarketing calls to residents who are on the Federal Do Not Call Registry without their consent, sending pre-recorded messages to residents without consent, and engaging in deceptive and misleading business practices.
The state attorney general’s office encouraged residents who are on the state “Do-Not-Call” List but received unsolicited calls from telemarketers to file a complaint online, or contact the General Bureau of Consumer Protection at (800) 441-2555 or scams@attorneygeneral.gov.
The subsidiaries named in the lawsuit are: Fluent LLC, CAC, American Prize Center, LLC, Deliver Technology, LLC, Rewardzone USA, LLC, and Samples & Savings USA, LLC.
