Last week, the FCC proposed leveling a fine of nearly $300 million against a company responsible for a robocall scam "regarding your car's extended warranty".  Sound familiar?

According to the press release from the FCC, there were more than 5 billion robocalls placed in a three month period back in 2021 to over 500 million phone numbers.  Also, the scammers spoofed, or faked, over 1 million Caller ID entries, including hospitals.  The press release notes that that is enough calls for everyone in the US to have been called 15 times in that three month window.  I don't know about you, but I certainly got  called more times than that.

If you're interested in reading the actual filing, complete with additional information, you can find it here.

The proposed fine is the largest in the FCC's history, and understandably so.  The legal filing calls this "the largest robocall scheme that the Commission has ever investigated" (Page 8).  Among other reasons mentioned in the press release and filing, the fact that the robocalls spoofed hospital phone numbers resulted in people calling the hospitals to complain, tying up their phones and potentially preventing people who needed help from getting through.