The Federal Trade Commission has filed its first case seeking civil penalties for violations of the Do Not Call Rule.
The FTC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas against Braglia Marketing Group, L.L.C. (BMG), Las Vegas, and its principals, Frank and Kate Braglia.
The FTC is seeking civil penalties of up to $11,000 for each violation of the Telephone Sales Rule--under which the Do Not Call Rule falls—as well as a permanent injunction and court costs. FTC spokeswoman Jen Schwartzman said the judge would set the exact figure.
BMG calls consumers on behalf of its clients, including Flagship Resort Development Corp. and Atlantic Palace Development LLC, which sell timeshare resort properties in Atlantic City, NJ.
In addition to making calls to more than 100,000 of registered phone numbers since Oct.17, 2003, BMG also called more than 10,000 phone numbers without first paying the required annual fee to access the registered numbers in those area codes, charged the FTC.
The FTC further alleged that BMG has abandoned calls by failing to connect the call to a representative within two seconds after a consumer answered the phone.
