FTC Secures Settlement with Cruise Line Robo Callers

Three people accused of working as robo callers, along with a call center, have settled charges of making illegal automated calls for a $7.8 million suspended judgment. In addition, the defendants have been permanently banned from ever making telemarketing calls again.

Seven other defendants did not settle, and their cases will be presented in court. Among them is Grand Bahama Cruise Line (GBCL), the company for which the calls were allegedly made.

The case, described by the Federal Trade Commission as a “massive operation,” is part of ongoing efforts to stem the relentless tide of automated marketing calls that continue to deluge consumers.

The Complaint

According to the FTC complaint, GBCL employed a number of call centers for the purpose of marketing cruise vacation packages. These call centers are accused of buying lists from lead generation companies that had conducted survey robocalls illegally in order to obtain contact information.

Additional allegations include:

• calling consumers who specifically asked not to be contacted
• violating FTC rules by failing to transmit accurate caller ID information
• failure to cross check their calling lists against the National Do Not Call Registry

The Operation

According to the complaint filed on Jan. 10, GBCL set up a vast and complex network of robo callers in order to market “free” cruise vacation packages for which potential customers would still have to pay federal port taxes and fees as well as the cost of vacation upgrades.

The operation allegedly involved contracts with a number of third-party lead generators, which used automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS) for the purpose of making thousands of telemarketing calls. Recipients would be greeted by a prerecorded message asking several automated survey questions that had nothing to do with cruise vacations. Afterward, the robo callers informed the consumer of their eligibility for “two free boarding passes for an all-inclusive cruise to the Bahamas.” Those who took the bait would either receive a second call the following day or were transferred to a live telemarketer working for GBCL, the FTC says.

The FTC states that for the past six years, GBCL has either been aware that many of these calls violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), or deliberately remained ignorant of that fact. The operation involved a number of companies that have faced investigations and lawsuits before, but continue to enable illicit telemarketing activities.

Robo Callers and the TCPA

Telemarketers who violate the TCPA can be liable for up to $1,500 per violation. The law was passed in 1991, at a time when new autodialer technologies were making it easy for telemarketers to contact vast numbers of consumers at once. These devices are capable of generating hundreds of thousands of random numbers and storing them.

One solution to the problem of incessant robo callers has been the establishment of the National Do Not Call Registry. Consumers can list their telephone numbers, free of charge; telemarketing companies are expected to abide by this list and remove any registered numbers from their own calling lists. Failure to do this is why GBCL and members of its operation were targeted by this FTC investigation.

Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.