Health insurance telemarketer faces $82 million fine over illegally spoofed robocalls

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a fine of more than $82 million against a Wilmington business owner
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a fine of more than $82 million against a Wilmington business owner
Author

04 August, 2017

According to the FCC, a North Carolina man named Philip Roesel - the owner of a company called Best Insurance Contracts, doing business as Wilmington Insurance Quotes - is believed to have made millions of automated "robocalls" for the objective of selling health insurance, and that he falsified his called ID information to hide the real source of the calls. The FCC then subpoenaed Roesel's call records from October 2016 through January 2017 and verified more than 82,000 health insurance telemarketing calls used falsified caller ID information. It also fined a New Mexico company $2.8 million for providing a robocalling platform which also allowed easy caller ID manipulation. Nominate a worthy colleague for the Insurance Business Awards!

Officials say that Philip Roesel, owner and operator of Best Insurance Contacts (d/b/a Wilmington Insurance quotes) deliberately falsified his caller ID information in order to allegedly harm, defraud, and wrongfully obtain money from unsuspecting consumers.

According to The Consumerist, Roesel's automated calls weren't just irritating - they interfered with an emergency medical network. A medical paging provider reported network disruptions caused by the calls, which at that point were linked to Roesel, the agency said. The FCC is fining Roesel $1,000 per verified violation.

Roesel's robocalls allegedly focused on vulnerable groups including the elderly and the sick, as well as low-income families. Earlier in the year, the commission proposed a $120 million fine against another alleged robocall violator.

However, even that number is a drop in the bucket compared to the 21.5 million calls the FCC believes Roesel's company made.

"Perhaps worse is the gall [Roesel] evidently paired with his gumption", said Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC. "The record shows that he instructed his employees which consumers to pick on: 'the dumber and more broke the better'".


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