Offshore Outsourcing & Scammer

Blog about offshore outsourcing and scammer in the outsourcing industry

Is the use of the Avatar technology in the U.S. illegal (Robocalls)?

FTC RobocallsIf the main and only purpose of the software an illegal action then this software is illegal. In the case of the Avatar system is service legal because at the site from the Federal Trade Commission are listed a few cases where Robocalls are allowed:

Some prerecorded messages are permitted — for example, messages that are purely informational. That means you may receive calls to let you know your flight’s been cancelled, reminders about an appointment, or messages about a delayed school opening. But the business doing the calling isn’t allowed to promote the sale of any goods or services. Prerecorded messages from a business that is contacting you to collect a debt also are permitted, but messages offering to sell you services to reduce your debt are barred.

Other exceptions include political calls and calls from certain health care providers. For example, pharmacies are permitted to use prerecorded messages to provide prescription refill reminders. Prerecorded messages from banks, telephone carriers and charities also are exempt from these rules if the banks, carriers or charities make the calls themselves.

As you see in the above statement are legal and illegal purposes for Robocalls available. Illegal is this technology for making business (promoting any goods or services) in the United States of America. That the Avatar technology is a Robocall technology gets found out by reading the judgement from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division, Civil Action No. H-13-2777, Case 4:13-cv-02777 from January 28, 2014 (.pdf). In this case Flowroute got sued to conspire with Avatar because: "Flowroute’s VoIP services, and employing Flowroute’s Calling Name Management Service ('CNAM-MS') to alter the caller’s identification as it appeared on Plaintiff’s cellular phone." Like expected had this case a positive end for Flowroute. The same way like Flowroute is Avatar only a service provider and is not responsible for the misusage of their products from their customers.

At Federal Trade Commission - Consumer Information - What to do if you get a Robocall explains the FTC attorney Kati Daffan in here video and in the first paragraph of the transcription what is a Robocall:

If you have a telephone, robocalls may be ruining your day. I'm Kati Daffan, an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. If you answer the phone and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, it's a robocall. If the recording is a sales message and you haven't given your written permission to get calls from the company on the other end, the call is illegal period.

Playing pre-recorded messages or compile manually pre-recorded messages live will remain to be a prerecorded material and is never the same like speaking to a live person. There is no way to foresee all possibilities during a call. For this reason a live speaking agent cannot get replaced.

A short description of the Avatar system is that a call center agent is playing prerecorded messages to the called ones. The messages are getting selected depending on the answers from the called ones. With other words the called one does not speak with a real agent and for some questions are even no prerecorded answers available. Only if the called one is interested in the offer he gets transferred to a real person. One agents handles normally two calls at the same time. I think everybody knows the result of mulittasking.

Avatar is promoting their services as "Lead Generation without the accent". From my own experience and from the experience of my customers is it in the German speaking area of Europe (Austria, Germany and a part of Switzerland) not important to speak without an accent to make a sale. Much more important is it to adjust your own communication within splits of a second to the same level as your presumptive customer is using. A joke during the communication at the right time can be an ice breaker. This cannot get done by using prerecorded messages. Already the first impression a sales person is making can lead to a good business or to a total loss.

Avatar Technologies Phl, Inc. is providing their services only B2B and for this reason they need not warn about the misusage of their product. From business owners is it expected that they know the law in their country and in the country they are serving. For a consumer are the offered services not from any interest. For this reason they need not warn them about the illegal use of their products.

The FTC is challenging the DEF CON community to create a tool that people can use to block and forward unwanted robocalls automatically. Forwarded calls will go to a honeypot — a data collection system that researchers and investigators can use to study the calls. See the contest descriptions and the winners of the 2015 Robocalls: Humanity Strikes Back Contest.

Look at the videos where an attorney from the FTC explains the illegal Robocalls.

Clark-et-al.-v-Avatar-Technologies-Phl-Inc.-et-al.-Decision.pdf (128.96 kb)

 

U.S. FTC - The Federal Trade Commission - Illegal Robocalls

It is difficult for offshore call centers to provide their services by using a legal way. On one side they need to work lucrative on the other side they need to keep themselves on the law and government regulations of the destination country of their calls, what makes their work very difficult.

If you are watching the following video or read the transcript from the FTC attorney Kati Daffan, then you’ll get it that you are not allowed to greet the called one with a recording and if the center likes to sell something – what is in the most cases the reason for the call from an offshore call center – then the client of the center needs to have a written permission of their victims, which should get called.

The first problem with the greeting done by a life person can get easily handled by adjusting the dial system that every time is at least one free agent is available who can take the call immediately and greet the called one.

If the client provides calling data the second problem can get solved too. In respect to the data protection law is the client not allowed to provide more detailed information as can get found in a public phone directory. In any case should keep the center a copy of the data transmission or the email with the access to the data for having a proof. The center shall keep the proofs at least 10 years in evidence.

We can find the following explanations from the FTC attorney Kati Daffan about Robocalls at the homepage of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):

Few things can be more annoying than answering the phone while you're in the middle of something — and then being greeted by a recording.

If you receive a robocall trying to sell you something (and you haven’t given the caller your written permission), it’s an illegal call. You should hang up. Then, file a complaint with the FTC and the National Do Not Call Registry.

Transcript from the video above:

If you have a telephone, robocalls may be ruining your day. I'm Kati Daffan, an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. If you answer the phone and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, it's a robocall. If the recording is a sales message and you haven't given your written permission to get calls from the company on the other end, the call is illegal period.

So when you get an illegal robocall, here's what to do. Hang up the phone. Don't press one to speak to a live operator. And don't press any other number to get off the list. If you respond by pressing any number, it will probably just lead to more robocalls.

You might consider contacting your phone provider and asking them to block the number and whether they charge for that service. Remember that telemarketers change caller ID information easily and often. So it might not be worth paying a fee to block a number that will change.

Finally, contact the FTC to report your experience. You can do that online at ftc.gov or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP. To learn more about illegal robocalls and what the FTC is doing to stop them, visit ftc.gov/robocalls. That's ftc.gov/robocalls.

Source: The Federal Trade Commission

Another video from the FTC attorney Kati Daffan give some more information:

Transcript of the video above:

If you have a telephone, it probably seems like illegal robo calls are out of control. I'm Kati Daffan, an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. If you pick up the phone, and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, that's a robocall.

Consumers are getting more and more robo calls, and they are not happy about it. As the number of calls has multiplied, the number of complaints has, too. The reason for the spike in robo calls has to do with technology. Companies are using auto dialers, that can send out thousands of phone calls every minute, for an incredibly low cost.

What's important is that the companies that use this technology don't bother to screen for the numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. If a company doesn't care about obeying the law, you can be sure they're trying to scam you. You've probably gotten robo calls about candidates running for office, or charities asking for donations. These robo calls are allowed. But any robo call that's trying to sell you something probably is illegal, unless you've given your written permission to get calls from that company.

The FTC has stopped billions, yes billions, of robo calls in the last two years. Tracing these calls is a tough job, and there are a few reasons for that. One, is that many different companies use the same, or very similar, recorded messages. Another, is that they fake the caller ID information that you see on your phone. That's called caller ID spoofing, and new technology makes it very easy to do. And the third, is that the robo callers often place the calls through internet technology, that hides their location.

At the FTC, we're continuing our aggressive enforcement efforts. And we're also looking for innovative, technological solutions to the robo call problem. For more information, please visit ftc.gov/robocalls. That's ftc.gov/robocalls.

Source: The Federal Trade Commission

Don’t forget that the fines in the U.S. are very high. Everybody who needs to defend himself in front of the law court will think first about himself and will very fast forget his given promises only for the reason that the fine will be a little bit less drastically. Your client will be coming first into the focus of the investigators, because you are selling his products. So your client or broker will in the best case provide the contact details of his partner in crime to the state attorney for getting a better deal for his own judgement. He will even try to make you alone guilty for his own fails. You need to have in this case proofs for your own protection and defense.