FTC Cracks Down On 'Pretexting' Scheme
The FTC has clamped down on an operation that allegedly obtained consumers’ confidential phone records without their knowledge or consent and sold them to third parties, according to a Wednesday press release. The defendants are barred from obtaining consumers’ telephone records without consent and are being fined more than $600,000 -- the estimated amount of their ill-gotten gains.
The case is the latest in a series targeting telephone "pretexters," which are individuals who use false pretenses to obtain consumers’ confidential information. Since 2006 the FTC has charged 16 individuals and their corporations with violating federal law by pretexting. All have been banned from the practice and have been ordered to forfeit their profits.
The FTC alleged that Action Research Group and its principals, Joseph and Matthew DePantes, sold confidential customer phone records, including lists of calls made and the dates, times, and duration of the calls, to third parties. To get the records, they relied on the other defendants, Eye in the Sky Investigations, Cassandra Selvage and Bryan Wagner, who obtained them from phone companies through pretexting. The DePantes and ARG agreed to settle the FTC charges and ESI, Selvage, and Wagner are subject to default judgments entered by the court.
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