Robocall Complaints Are Down Over 70% in Recent Years But Telecom Law Firm Credited With Stopping Billions of Unwanted Robocalls Says There's Still More Work to be Done

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans sick of unwanted robocalls can breathe a little easier thanks to the tireless work of one law firm dedicated to cleaning up the robocall problem in this country.

Troutman Amin, LLP a well-known national marketing law firm based in Irvine, California has been credited with stopping billions of unwanted robocalls through their efforts to educate the so-called lead generation industry on the scope of telemarketing regulations and preach a message of compliance.

The lead generation industry is a group of thousands of mostly small businesses that run websites designed to obtain consumer consent to receive telemarketing calls and then sell those consent records to dozens and sometimes hundreds of marketers to make outbound calls. Historically this "industry" has operated outside the scrutiny of regulators and escaped notice from the media.

"Most Americans think the robocall problem is caused by the telemarketers themselves. But that is not so," Partner Eric J. Troutman explains, "Looking deeper we discovered that the root of the problem is actually the businesses that are "generating" leads and selling lists of supposedly interested persons to the marketers to be called."

The problem, Troutman discovered, was that many times the lead generators were simply faking consent forms or were otherwise tricking consumers into filling out the forms in large numbers. The telemarketers would then pay for the resulting "leads" believing a consumer had really asked to be called. Yet something in the order of 25-40% of these leads were simply not valid—meaning that hundreds of millions of marketing calls a month were being inadvertently made to people who were not actually interested in receiving the calls.

While most attorneys might have turned a blind eye, Troutman simply could not rest until he had helped bring the lead generators in line with regulations—and subject to regulatory scrutiny.

"My firm began attending lead generation industry conferences and preaching a message of compliance. We have spoken to tens of thousands of people in the industry encouraging them to straighten up and fly right—stop harassing consumers and only make calls consumers want to receive," Troutman explains, "Simultaneously we worked with regulators and direct-to-consumer marketers to open their eyes to the misconduct by certain lead generators and help them to identify and punish bad actors."

But the work didn't stop there—Troutman and his colleagues published thousands of articles on telecom legal issues on a website called TCPAWorld.com, an effort to further educate the industry.

"We don't charge anything to access these articles—these are written by attorneys breaking down legal issues and making telecom law simple so that small businesses and marketers can understand the complex regulatory landscape applicable to them and help prevent unwanted calls."

As Troutman sees it the problem is not that telemarketers and lead generators do not care about the law it is that, by and large, they do not understand the law. "People want to comply with the law, they really do—but this area of law is complex and esoteric and very few of these companies have sophisticated lawyers to guide them. They have to turn to internet resources—and that's where TCPAWorld.com comes into play. And the results speak for themselves."

Since 2018 when Troutman began his crusade overall complaints of unwanted robocalls made to the Country's chief robocall regulator—the Federal Communications Commission—have plummeted 71%, an absolutely massive drop.

"I am incredibly proud of the work we have done," Troutman concludes, "I can say without question that my law firm has stopped billions of unwanted robocalls and I doubt there are many human beings on the planet that could claim to have done more to help end the robocall scourge in this county than we have."

His partner Puja J. Amin agrees, but says further action is still needed.

"Look, we have done more than anyone to bring industry into line and stop unwanted robocalls," Puja weighs in, "but our mission is not complete. Our phones won't be safe until every call we receive is a wanted call—and that is achievable if good industry actors work together."

It is with that hope in mind that Troutman and Amin have formed a trade organization known as Responsible Enterprises Against Consumer Harassment (R.E.A.C.H.) R.E.A.C.H. is a group of dedicated "good guys" in the direct-to-consumer marketing space who have dedicated themselves to the highest set of standards imaginable—assuring complete and transparent disclosures to consumers who agree to receive telephone calls, and strictly limiting the behavior of marketers who rely on such leads.

"People always complain for the government to help them with robocalls, but really the government can't solve this. The companies responsible for the calls need to get smart and work together to out the bad actors and restore trust in the communications network again," Puja urges. "R.E.A.C.H. is industry's best chance at self-policing and cleansing the bad actors out of the ecosystem and to assure the days of consumer cell phones being besieged by aggressive telemarketers are behind us—once and for all"

For more information on R.E.A.C.H. and how your organization can become active in the fight against unwanted marketing calls visit reachmbc.com 

SOURCE Troutman Amin, LLP