"I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up": How a Billion Robocalls Got Lifewatch Banned From Telemarketing

And that's exactly the pitch Lifewatch, Inc. used on seniors, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Florida Attorney General.

So what happened?

On June 30, 2015, the FTC and the Florida Attorney General's Office filed a joint complaint in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois (case no. 1:15-cv-05781) against New York-based Lifewatch, Inc. and its officer, Evan Sirlin.

According to the complaint, since 2012 Lifewatch had been blasting consumers, mostly older people, with robocalls to pitch supposedly "free" medical alert systems. The FTC later described this as at least a billion robocalls.

The pitch

Here's how the calls went, according to the agencies:

• A prerecorded message, including one from "John from the shipping department of Emergency Medical Alert," told people a medical alert system had been purchased for them and they could get it "at no cost whatsoever."
• Messages claimed the system was endorsed or recommended by groups like the American Heart Association.
• Press a number, and a live telemarketer said the system cost over $400 but you'd get it free. The offer was only good for one day, of course.
• The telemarketers would drop the famous line "I've fallen and I can't get up."
• Then came the catch: a monthly monitoring fee between $29.95 and $39.95, and you had to hand over your card or bank info.
• People were told they wouldn't be billed until they activated the system. They were charged almost immediately.
• Trying to cancel? Pay to send it back, or pay a $400 penalty.

Many of the calls went to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry and used spoofed caller ID.

And here's the part that really gets me. The year before, one of Lifewatch's telemarketing firms, Worldwide Info Services, had already been banned from robocalling in an FTC and Florida case. According to the agencies, it was Lifewatch that continued with other telemarketers.

"Some scammers won't take a hint," said Jessica Rich, then Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Read the FTC and Florida complaint against Lifewatch.

How it ended

In June 2019, as part of the FTC's "Operation Call it Quits" robocall crackdown, the FTC announced a court order that:

• Permanently bans the Lifewatch defendants (Lifewatch, Sirlin and Mitchel May) from telemarketing.
• Bars them from misrepresenting the terms of anything they sell.
• Imposes a $25.3 million judgment against Lifewatch and Sirlin.

The same order also covered a second group of defendants: Safe Home Security, MedGuard Alert, Inc. and David Roman.

In December 2021, the FTC sent 71,899 checks, $25.15 each, totaling $1,808,260.

Why should you care?

When switching vendors, you can't wash your hands. If your last telemarketer got banned and you hire a new one to say the same things, you are the problem.

• "Free" has to mean free. If there's a monthly fee, say it up front.
• Don't borrow credibility from groups that never endorsed you.
• Robocalls to sell stuff need written consent. Seniors on the Do Not Call list are not a lead source.
• Make canceling easy. A $400 penalty is a flag waving in the wind.

Don't do it. Just don't.