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29 Charged With Sending Over 180 Million Texts

Michael Agruss

Written and Reviewed by Michael Agruss

  • Managing Partner and Personal Injury Lawyer at Mike Agruss Law.
  • Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.
  • Over 8000+ consumer rights cases settled.
  • Graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law: Juris Doctor, 2004.

Eight complaints against spam text senders have recently been filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in courts around the United States. The FTC has called these legal actions a crackdown on affiliate marketers who “bombard consumers with hundreds of millions of unwanted spam text[s],” directing them to deceptive websites which promote supposedly free gift cards. The FTC’s “spam text” complaints charged 29 defendants with sending over a 180 million unsolicited texts promising free gifts or prizes – some offering gift cards worth $1,000 at major retailers – to millions of consumers, many of whom had to pay to receive the texts. The FTC has become more aggressive in defending consumer rights with these complaints; the agency is pretty much saying just sending unsolicited commercial texts can be an “unfair practice” under the Federal Trade Commission Act—before, the burden of proof has always been on the receiver of the texts. The spam texts that spurred the FTC’s complaints had links that led to a “confusing and elaborate” online process that required recipients to provide sensitive personal information, apply for credit, or pay to subscribe to services to get the supposedly free cards. After all this, people had to accept a number of “offers”—which could include recurring subscriptions charged to credit cards, and/or applications for credit—with the number necessary to proceed sometimes totaling a dozen or more. And even if people completed the offers, they were notified they had to find three others who also would complete offers before they would receive any gift card—it’s unclear if anyone ever received the promised “free” gift cards.All the sensitive personal information gathered by these shady websites (sometimes even health information) was supposedly necessary to ship the free gift cards; instead, it was sold to third parties for marketing purposes. This deception is central to the FTC’s case. Also very important: the spam texts were sent to random phone numbers, and in almost 12% of cases, to people who did not have text message subscription plans—so they were charged fees they had not agreed to. This is exactly what the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act are designed to protect against. The TCPA restricts telephone solicitations, the use of automated telephone equipment, and unsolicited advertisements. Specifically, the TCPA limits the use of automatic dialing systems, prerecorded voice messages, unsolicited text messages, and junk faxes. So, what should you do when you get a robocall or an unsolicited text message? Hang up the phone. Do not press 1 or any other numbers to get off the list. Then, contact Mike Agruss Law, for a free consultation. The Federal Trade Commission has stopped billions, yes billions, of robocalls in the last two years. Mike Agruss Law, will do the same for you. We will aggressively enforce the law to stop robocalls and unsolicited text message. Not only will we stop the calls and text messages, but you may be entitled to money damages, too. Damages in TCPA cases range from $500.00 – $1,500.00 per call or text. 

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