Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced on Thursday an historic settlement with Startel Communication LLC and its CEO.
Rokita filed suit in October 2021 against Startel, an Indiana company, and several other defendants for allegedly assisting and facilitating foreign robocallers in India, the Philippines, and Singapore who robocalled Hoosiers.
Rokita and Startel came to a resolution that will protect Hoosiers from more illegal calls. The resolution requires Startel and Ms. Hall, the CEO, to exit the telecommunications industry forever. Further, Startel and Hall are prohibited from operating or working with a telecommunications company.
Rokita
“The people of Indiana are tired of being bombarded by robocalls, and this settlement is a win for Hoosiers,” Rokita said. “If telecom companies are unwilling to stop the robocalls flooding into the U.S., we have no problem putting them out of business for good.”
In this case, the robocallers allegedly made over 4.8 million phone calls to Hoosiers and hundreds of millions of calls to other states across the country. The robocallers allegedly operated a variety of scams, including IRS and Social Security Administration imposter scams, legal action or arrest scams, computer support scams, Apple support scams, and Amazon subscription scams.
Rokita offers the following tips to avoid scams and unwanted calls:
- Be wary of callers who specifically ask you to pay by gift card or cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin). For example, the IRS does not accept iTunes gift cards.
- Look out for prerecorded calls from government agencies you were not expecting. Typically, the IRS and SSA do not call people.
- If you suspect fraudulent activity, do not provide any personal information and end the call.
- Contact Attorney General Rokita’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-888-834-9969 or donotcall@atg.in.gov.
- Add your number to the Indiana Do Not Call List
- File a Do Not Call or Text complaint at this link.