Attorney General's News Release
March 16, 2007
Nixon obtains $50,000 from Miami, Fla. telemarketer that violated Missouri No Call law
Jefferson City, Mo.— A Miami, Fla. telemarketer has agreed to pay $50,000 for violating Missouri's No Call law, Attorney General Jay Nixon announced today. Nixon's office filed an assurance of voluntary compliance in St. Louis City Circuit Court today with TracFone Wireless Inc., which sells prepaid wireless phones and wireless airtime cards.
More than 100 Missourians on the No Call list complained to the Attorney General's No Call unit about the calls. Several of the calls resulted in long prerecorded messages being left on consumers' answering machines. Nixon said TracFone also made it difficult for Missourians to complain about the calls to the company or ask the company to put the consumers on their own internal do not call list.
“The significant amount of money this Florida telemarketer is paying serves as continued notice that violators of our No Call law will be made to pay,” Nixon said. “Our No Call program continues to be held up as a model for the rest of the country, just as it has since we set it up six years ago.”
To date, Nixon has obtained court orders for payments of $1,763,000 from telemarketers that violated the law. The $50,000 under today's settlement will be paid to the Missouri Merchandising Practices Revolving Fund, which is used to help fund consumer education and enforcement efforts and keeps the Missouri No Call program free for consumers.
More than 2.4 million Missouri residential lines are registered on the No Call list.
“That represents 2.4 million Missouri households that have been enjoying peace and quiet from unwanted telemarketing calls,” Nixon said. “I'm very proud of the ongoing efforts by my No Call unit staff to aggressively prosecute this law on behalf of those families.”
To register a residential phone line on the Missouri No Call list, consumers can go to the Attorney General's Web site at ago.mo.gov or call toll-free 1-866 NO CALL 1 (1-866-662-2551). Complaints about telemarketers violating the law also can be registered through that Web site or phone number.
Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).
All media inquiries should be directed to the Press Secretary.
E-mail Phone: 573-751-8844 Fax: 573-751-5818