Last month, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a $300 million fine against two Californian men responsible for an auto warranty robocall campaign. This is the latest government action against telecommunications fraud and the largest penalty ever proposed by the agency over robocalls.

"We will be relentless in pursing the groups behind these schemes by limiting their access to US communications networks and holding them to account for their conduct," said Loyaan A. Egal, the Enforcement Bureau Chief for the FCC.

The two culprits are Roy Cox Jr. and Michael Aaron Jones, who were accused of making over 5 billion illegal robocalls to over half a billion phone numbers during a three-month span in 2021, via their Sumco Panama company and other entities. Sources say they used, "pre-recorded voice calls to press consumers to speak to a 'warranty specialist' about extending or reinstating their car's warranty."

Cox's attorney did not comment while Jones' attorney could not be identified.

In July of 2022, Dave Yost, the Attorney General of Ohio, sued Cox, Jones and others for orchestrating fraudulent auto warranty extensions, described as an "unlawful and complex robocall scheme, at times besieging consumers with more than 77 million robocalls a day to generate sales leads." Cox denied all allegations in a court filing.

The FCC noted that under a Federal Trade Commission action, both Jones and Cox are prohibited from making telemarketing calls.

However, Jones's telemarketing abuse dates back even further to 2017, when a judge in California approved default judgments against him and nine other companies, who the FTC charged with running a similar operation responsible for billions of illegal robocalls.

At that time, the court had permanently banned Jones and the other companies from all telemarketing activities and imposed a $2.7 million penalty.

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