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Numerous foreign-based call centers are alleged to have used the defendants’ VoIP carrier services to pass fraudulent government and business imposter robocalls to victims in the United States.
By Forum Staff
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered orders in two separate civil actions barring eight individuals and entities from continuing to facilitate the transmission of massive volumes of fraudulent robocalls to consumers across the country, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
In one of the matters, United States v. Nicholas Palumbo, et al., the court entered a preliminary injunction that bars defendants Nicholas and Natasha Palumbo and two entities from operating as intermediate voice-over-internet-protocol carriers during the pendency of the civil action.
In the other matter, United States v. Jon Kahen, et al., the court entered consent decrees that permanently bar defendants Jon Kahen and three entities from operating as intermediate VoIP carriers conveying fraudulent robocalls into the U.S. telephone system.
As alleged in the complaints, the defendants in both cases operated as intermediate VoIP carriers, receiving internet based calls from other entities, often located abroad, and transmitting those calls first to other carriers within the United States, and ultimately to the phones of individuals. Numerous foreign-based call centers are alleged to have used the defendants’ VoIP carrier services to pass fraudulent government and business imposter robocalls to victims in the United States. The eight defendants also sold U.S. phone numbers to foreign entities, which were used as victim call-back numbers as part of massive robocalling fraud schemes.
As also alleged, despite numerous warnings that they were carrying fraudulent robocalls—including calls impersonating government agencies such as the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and businesses such as Microsoft—the defendants continued carrying those calls and facilitating fraud schemes targeting individuals in the country. Many of the robocalls were made from foreign-based call centers by individuals impersonating government investigators and conveying alarming messages, such as: the recipient’s social security number or other personal information has been compromised or otherwise connected to criminal activity; the recipient faces imminent arrest; the recipient’s assets are being frozen; the recipient’s bank and credit accounts have suspect activity; the recipient’s benefits are being stopped; the recipient faces imminent deportation; or combinations of these threats. Each of these claims was false and designed to scare the call recipient into paying large sums of money. Many times the numbers that appeared as the originating or caller-ID numbers for these calls were “spoofed” to make it appear that they originated from legitimate government or business offices in the United States, when in reality the calls were made by overseas scammers, often located in India. The defendants also sold toll-free and other U.S. numbers to foreign call centers that were left in fraudulent robocall messages on victims’ phones to further deceive them into believing that the calls were legitimate and originated in the United States. These calls led to massive financial losses to elderly and other vulnerable victims throughout the country.
“The Court’s decisions send a clear message to gateway carriers who knowingly do business with scammers targeting Americans from overseas,” said SSA Inspector General Gail Ennis.
