A debt and mortgage relief operation that allegedly sent 5.5 million illegal spam text messages has been halted by a federal judge at the request of the Federal Trade Commission.
The unsolicited text messages were allegedly sent over a 40-day period by the defendant, Phillip A. Flora, at an average rate of 85 texts per minute ‘round the clock. The FTC calls the number of texts in such a short period, “mind-boggling.”
According to the FTC’s complaint, Flora collected information from consumers who respond to the text messages – even those asking him to stop sending messages. Then he sold this contact information to marketers claiming they are “debt settlement leads.”
The FTC alleges that many of the messages deceptively advertised various loan and debt services, including a mortgage modification website called Loanmod-gov.net. The website was misleading to consumers and fraudulently represented that the company was affiliated with the U.S. government, the FTC complaint states.
The FTC says that these unwanted messages cost consumers text fees to their mobile carriers. The FTC also charges that the spam text messages violated the CAN-SPAM Act – a law that sets the rules for commercial email. In addition, consumers were not provided with a way to opt-out of receiving the texts or the physical address of the sender, as required by law.
The FTC files a complaint when they have reason to believe that a law has been violated. The defendant is presumed innocent until the case is decided by the court, and a settlement is not an admission of guilt by the defendant.
Source:
Federal Trade Commission