Attorney General Kwame Raoul, in collaboration with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, has announced a groundbreaking bipartisan initiative aimed at cracking down on illegal telemarketing. Named "Operation Stop Scam Calls," this joint state and federal effort will combat the scourge of illegal telemarketing operations, including robocalls, which have inundated U.S. consumers with billions of unwanted calls.
The operation's focus is on holding telemarketers, their employers, and lead generators accountable for deceptive practices, such as falsely obtaining consumers' telephone numbers for robocalls. It will also target VoIP service providers that facilitate billions of illegal robocalls originating from overseas.
Illinois and 48 other attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against Avid Telecom, alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The company allegedly transmitted over 7.5 billion illegal robocalls to millions of people on the National Do Not Call Registry, with over 290 million calls reaching Illinois residents between December 2018 and January 2023.