DOJ sues to stop robocall carriers News
JESHOOTS-com / Pixabay
DOJ sues to stop robocall carriers

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed two civil lawsuits Tuesday against five companies and three individuals it alleged had facilitated the transmission of hundreds of millions of fraudulent robocalls to consumers in the US. The DOJ alleges that the companies continued carrying the calls after being warned that they were fraudulent, resulting in financial losses for elderly and vulnerable Americans.

Two cases were filed. The first is against TollFreeDeals.com, sipretail.com, Nicholas Palumbo and Natasha Palumbo. The other is against Global Voicecom, Global Telecommunication Services, KAT Telecom and Jon Kahen; a temporary restraining order has been issued in this case.

The robocalls have been increasing in recent years and use lies to scare call recipients into paying large sums of money. Some of the most successful calls have been Social Security imposters, IRS imposters, and tech-support schemes.

The DOJ alleges that the defendants operated Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) carriers that transmitted calls over the internet and served as an entry point to the US telecommunications system for foreign callers, many of whom were located in India. The complaint against TollFreeDeals.com alleges that its network carried approximately 720 million calls during one 23-day period, 425 million of which lasted less than one second—a pattern the government cited as evidence of automated call traffic.

In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission had reports of 400,000 complaints of imposter fraud leading to losses of $152.9 million, a figure the DOJ says is underestimated as most of the fraud is not reported.

In early January, President Trump signed the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act into law, authorizing the Federal Communications Commission to issue penalties for violating restrictions on automated calling.

UPDATE: On August 25, 2020, the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a consent decree and final judgment permanently enjoining Nicholas and Natasha Palumbo, Ecommerce National LLC and SIP Retail from providing certain telecommunications services, including carrying VoIP calls terminating in the United States. The defendants consented to the decree without admitting liability or wrongdoing. The decree did not impose a fine, penalty or restitution.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on September 3, 2026, to clarify the nature of the action and the conduct alleged and to report the case’s subsequent disposition.
THIS DAY @ LAW

Patent of Toleration grants religious freedom to Protestants in Holy Roman Empire

On October 21, 1781, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II issued the Patent of Toleration, which granted religious freedom to Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire.

First West law reports published

On October 21, 1876, the West Publishing Company, founded by John B. West, published its first law reporter, The Syllabi, which promised to provide Minnesota lawyers with legal intelligence that was "prompt, interesting, full, and at all times thoroughly reliable." The Syllabi eventually became the Northwestern Reporter, which later evolved into West's National Reporter System.

European Patent Institute established

On October 21, 1977, the European Patent Institute (EPI) was established by the European Patent Organisation pursuant to the European Patent Convention. The EPI serves as a non-governmental professional organization for patent lawyers in Europe.