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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Texas Sues Auto Warranty Telemarketers

AUSTIN (CN) - Texas has joined the list of governments trying to shut down telemarketers who make robocalls to consumers claiming their auto warranties are about to expire. It claims SCM Media and On Point Media made the calls to push Pacific Guard Warranty's service contracts.

The FTC sued two other telemarketers this week in Chicago Federal Court and Oklahoma sued a third in Oklahoma County.

In its federal complaint, Texas accuses SCM and On Point of "engaging in a consistent campaign of deceptive and abusive telemarketing calls" to countless Texas consumers, many of whom are on the state and federal Do Not Call lists.

Texas claims the companies failed to identify themselves in the calls and used technology to "spoof" the telephone numbers that appeared on the consumers' caller ID, causing it to display a non-working number rather than defendants' actual phone number. And it says the defendants claimed in their sales pitch that the "warranty" was a product of Pacific Guard Warranty though Pacific Guard was a broker selling extended contracts on behalf of another entity.

Texas seeks $1,000 for each violation of the Texas No Call Act and $20,000 for each violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Prosecutors have filed a flurry of lawsuits this week after the tactic made national news when a congressman received such a call, and didn't like it.

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