Robocall: an automated telephone call that delivers a recorded message, typically on behalf of a political party or telemarketing company.
Voters across Alabama have been flooded with harassing robocalls to their cell phones in last several days. And if recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rulings are any indication, the perpetrators are risking millions of dollars in fines.
Yellowhammer News has received emails from individuals across the state, each of whom claim to have fielded dozens of campaign-related robocalls to their cell phones this week from locations all over the world, including Mexico, Bermuda, South Africa, the Netherlands, and a wide range of U.S. states.
The calls initially appear to be a positive message going out from a campaign, but do not contain the “paid for by” disclaimer required by law. In reality, the calls are recordings of the candidates’ actual ads, with the disclaimer cutoff in an apparent attempt to avoid outright fraud. The calls are presumably being sent out to annoy voters to the point that they become angry with the candidate mentioned in the ad.
At least one campaign has sent out a letter to the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s office and the U.S. Dept. of Justice alerting them to the fraudulent calls.
As the robocalls were going out across Alabama this week, the FCC announced a $3 million fine against Dialing Services LLC, a firm based in New Mexico that placed millions of robocalls to cell phones over the last year despite being warned not to.
According to CNN, “it’s illegal to place robocalls to cell phones except in limited circumstances: when the calls are made for emergency purposes, or when they’re made with the prior consent of the recipient.”
Longtime Alabama political consultant David Mowery told Yellowhammer Thursday that each robocall could cost the perpetrators thousands of dollars in fines.
“This is one of those tactics that is too cute by half,” Mowery said. “Just remember that in the end all telecommunications keeps a record, and each instance of a machine connecting to a cellphone is a $16,000 FCC fine… and I alone have 22 of these saved on my phone. Not the way I would spend $350,000 of my clients’ money, but when you haven’t been in the business that long, you might not know the tricks of the trade, and you end up making rookie mistakes.”
It is unclear at this point what steps are being taken to ensure the calls are stopped, or what agencies may be investigating, but voters can likely expect the hardball campaign tactics to only increase between now and the June 3 primary.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
