NC Attorney General Josh Stein announces lawsuit targeting illegal robocalls

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Atty. Gen. Josh Stein announced a series of legal actions targeting illegal robocalls on Friday.

In a press conference, Stein revealed his office is suing timeshare company Club Exploria, LLC, claiming the company spammed more than one million North Carolinians with illegal robocalls.

“When we determine telemarketing companies have broken the law, we will hold them accountable,” Stein said.

In a release, Stein’s office said, “In North Carolina, businesses that solicit customers by telephone must get people’s consent before robocalling them. Club Exploria allegedly failed to get this consent before placing these million-plus robocalls to North Carolinians.”

Attorney General Stein has also issued two civil investigative demands into companies possibly making illegal robocalls and robotexts.

At Friday’s press conference, Capt. Eric Carpenter from the Durham County Sheriff’s Office shared numbers on the growing issue of spam calls in the county. Carpenter said he’s seen around 20 cases in the past year where victims lost “significant amounts of money.”

“Scammers have lots of tricks before you, including using the name of our staff on the website, including they’ve used my name before,” Carpenter said.

Stein also added that the rise of A.I. is making it especially difficult to recognize scam calls.

“They will have people today using the criminals voice say, ‘Hey, Grandma, it’s Joey. And they get all this information by looking at Grandma’s Facebook account. I got arrested. Don’t tell Mom and Dad. I need your help. I need to pay $4,000 bail to get out right now. But don’t tell Mom and Dad because they won’t. They won’t like it. And if people fall victim to that today,’” Stein said.

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