Robocall Trojan Horse Hides Cruise Offer in Political Survey - East Idaho News
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Robocall Trojan Horse Hides Cruise Offer in Political Survey

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GETTY 3515 CruiseSHip?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1425578230947Photodisc/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — A widespread telemarketing scheme in which companies bombarded American consumers with billions of calls for a purported political survey was actually a tricky and illegal plot to sell cruise travel packages, the Federal Trade Commission announced this week.

The FTC and 10 state attorneys general announced this week the partial settlement of a case against Caribbean Cruise Line, which, along with seven other companies, was charged with orchestrating an elaborate robocall scheme, raking in millions of dollars by pitching trips to the Bahamas under the guise of a political survey in an attempt to evade federal telemarketing laws, the FTC said.

Over a 10-month span, 12 to 15 million calls were made every day to consumers in all 50 states, resulting in more than a million complaints to federal officials.

Emily Cope Burton, an attorney with the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the robocall scheme was unique in that the call was a Trojan horse — the robocall got in the door to the consumer as a political survey before turning to a pitch for a travel package. Political calls do not violate the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry or other federal robocall rules.

“Our hope is this case will send a message to companies that if there was a misconception, this clarifies it,” Burton told ABC News. “There is no loophole.”

Burton said she advises consumers to exercise caution and report concerns to the FTC if they receive calls with hidden agendas.

“If you get a call like this with a sales pitch attached, be extremely cautious,” she said. “You probably don’t want to be doing business with a company trying so hard to skirt the law.”

Victims of the scheme — including those registered on Do Not Call lists — received calls from “John from Political Opinions,” telling them they had been “carefully selected” to participate in a 30-second political survey, after which they could “press one” to receive a two-day cruise for two to the Bahamas.

Those who continued with the call were then transferred to a live telemarketer who informed them they would receive a two-day trip for two to the Bahamas, if they would pay a “port tax” of $59 per person. Additionally, they were pitched additional hotel and travel packages, according to the official complaint.

Although federal laws don’t prohibit political surveys, some state laws do. Indiana, for example, prohibits political calling and was one of the 10 states, along with Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington, that filed additional charges in the complaint with the FTC.

“Caribbean Cruise Line’s illegal robocalling campaign violated our telephone privacy laws and harassed millions of people,” Indiana State Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement. “These tactics aren’t fooling anyone, and all parties involved in this scheme are being held accountable.”

Caribbean Cruise Line agreed to pay $500,000 in the settlement with the FTC. Seven other companies were charged with aiding Caribbean Cruise Line in the scheme; two of those have settled for lesser amounts, and the suit continues against the other five.

Jeffrey Backman, an attorney who represented Caribbean Cruise Line, said in a statement to ABC News that Caribbean has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing and that the company had been contacted by a group of political action committees (PACs) that wanted to offer its cruise packages as a promotion for participation in political surveys.

“After vetting the request with its attorneys, Caribbean agreed to allow its complimentary cruise promotion to be offered to recipients of certain of the calls made by the PACs,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, the PACs made calls that were not part of the program that Caribbean had approved.”

The Federal Trade Commission advises consumers to sign up for the Do Not Call Registry to cut down on unwanted sales calls and encourages anyone who gets calls that violate federal law to file a complaint.


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