Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro files suit against New York-based company for role in illegal robocalls
HARRISBURG (KDKA) - Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and his office announced that they are filing a lawsuit against a New York-based company for placing hundreds of thousands of unwanted robocalls in the Commonwealth.
According to Shapiro's office, Fluent Inc., a company that connects advertisers to potential new customers through data collection, and its subsidiaries, American Prize Center LLC, Deliver Technology LLC, Rewardzone USA LLC, and Samples & Savings LLC collected personal data, phone numbers, and then sold them to telemarketing companies.
Thousands of those numbers were on Pennsylvania's "Do-Not-Call List."
"If a Pennsylvania resident registers their phone number on the 'Do-Not-Call' List, it's illegal for telemarketers to call them," Shapiro said. "Every company is obligated to comply with state and federal telemarketing laws, and Fluent failed to comply. These invasive robocalls are a growing problem – Fluent's phony actions cannot be used to obtain consumer's consent to receive unwanted calls."
The information was collected by Fluent through people's sign-ups to get promotional offerings including Walmart and Amazon gift cards. Those offerings consistently failed to let the people know that their contact information was being used to send to telemarketing callers, even though those telemarketing companies had nothing to do with the promotional offering.
The lawsuit claims that between 2018 and 2021, more than 4.2 million Pennsylvania consumers registered their information with one of Fluent's websites and violated federal and state telemarketing laws by placing calls to people on the Do Not Call List as well as placing robocalls without proper consumer consent.
The suit also alleges that Fluent engaged in deceptive and misleading business practices.
It's also not the first time Fluent has been named in a lawsuit. In 2021, the company entered into a settlement with the state of New York after the company allegedly supplied millions of fake public comments in opposition to net neutrality laws in order to appear as if there was a grassroots movement in opposition to net neutrality.
They were ordered to pay a $3.7 million civil penalty.
Pennsylvanians that have signed up for the Do Not Call list can report unwanted telemarketing calls online at this link.