Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita on Wednesday announced an historic settlement with Piratel, LLC to help combat the plague of robocalling.
Rokita
Rokita filed suit in October 2021 against Startel, LLC, an Indiana company, and several other defendants for allegedly assisting and facilitating foreign robocallers in India, the Philippines, and Singapore to robocall Hoosiers.
After just a few months of negotiations, Rokita and Piratel have come to a resolution that protects Hoosiers and other Americans from illegal robocalls.
“From day one, it has been my mission to fight illegal and unwanted robocalls. This settlement is a win for Hoosiers,” Rokita said. “To continue winning these battles, we need telecom companies to join us in our anti-robocall campaign. For telecom companies that turn their backs, let this be a warning. There will be major consequences if you send Hoosiers illegal robocalls.”
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 United States. 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, such as 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 here.