Court shuts down two companies that facilitated millions of fraudulent robocalls

A district court has permanently banned two individuals and two companies responsible for facilitating hundreds of millions of fraudulent robocalls from making or conveying any calls in the U.S. system, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Under the consent decree issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, couple Nicholas and Natasha Palumbo and their companies Ecommerce National LLC and SIP Retail will be barred from delivering prerecorded messages automatically or providing any American numbers to other individuals or entities.

The two defendants will also be barred from serving as employees, agents or consultants to any entity involved in robocalling.

The case against the Palumbos and their companies was brought by the Justice Department earlier this year. It claimed that they transmitted hundreds of millions of fraudulent calls from other entities to Americans’ phones.

The calls, often originating from foreign-based entities, included millions impersonating the Social Security Administration.

These fraudulent calls threatened recipients with arrest or asset seizure if they did not transfer funds to the caller and often targeted the elderly.

“The Department is committed to protecting vulnerable Americans, particularly America’s seniors, from those who seek to steal their hard-earned savings,” acting Assistant Attorney General Ethan Davis of the Justice Department’s civil division said. “The Department will pursue not only those who place fraudulent robocalls, but also those who knowingly facilitate such calls.”