Scammer faces record fine in robocall spree

A Miami man accused of flooding consumers with 96 million calls touting fake travel deals faces a record $120 million fine from federal regulators.

A Miami man accused of flooding consumers with 96 million calls touting fake travel deals faces a record $120 million fine from federal regulators.

Adrian Abramovich tried to trick consumers into answering and listening to his advertising, the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday. The pace of calls works out to more than 1 million per day.

“The FCC is taking major, unprecedented action against what appears to be the most egregious neighbor-spoofing robocalling scheme that we have ever seen,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said.

Calls appeared to come from local numbers, but those who answered were prompted to “Press 1” to hear about vacation deals, according to the FCC. If they did, consumers were connected to call centers not affiliated with companies mentioned in messages, according to the agency.

Consumers who did “press 1” were transferred to foreign call centers where live operators attempted to sell vacation packages — often involving timeshares, the FCC said.

“The calls ultimately connected Americans to call centers in Mexico that usually attempted to fleece innocent consumers out of their hard-earned money by promising too-good-tobe-true vacation deals,” said Adam Medros, a vice president at TripAdvisor. The company said it worked with the FCC to investigate after its customers called to complain.

Abramovich, who could not be reached for comment, will get a chance to argue against the FCC’s proposed penalty before the agency decides whether to levy the fine.