(CN) - The Federal Trade Commission claims Asia Pacific Telecom, Repo B.V. and SBN Peripherals made "tens of millions" of misleading telemarketing calls through a robocaller. A single phone number the companies used in 2009 caused nearly 14,000 Do Not Call complaints to the FTC. The company owners and operators, Johan Hendrik Smit Duyzentkunst and his wife, live in California, the FTC says.
Some of Duyzentkunst's robocalls claimed he could reduce consumers' credit card interest rates and save them "thousands of dollars in a short time," according to the FTC complaint in Chicago Federal Court.
The FTC says those claims were false.
Other messages warned consumers that their automobile warranties were about to expire, which also was untrue, the FTC says. In fact, the defendants often knew nothing about their victims' auto warranties.
The defendants also told consumers they had been "specially selected to receive a vacation travel package," though the package required payment of fees and costs.
The FTC seeks an injunction and freezing of assets for consumer fraud.
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