Analysis · Litigation & decisions
United States v. VoIP Terminator: A Gateway Provider Settles Over Pandemic Robocalls
On April 26, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ), on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), sued VoIP Terminator, Inc., a related company, BLMarketing, Inc., and their founder and sole owner, Muhammad Usman Khan, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Case No. 6:22-cv-00798). The court entered a final order on May 4, 2022.
On this page
The bottom line: a provider that lets foreign robocalls into the U.S. is expected to act as a gatekeeper.
What the government alleged
According to the FTC, the defendants assisted and facilitated the transmission of millions of illegal prerecorded telemarketing robocalls, including calls they knew or should have known were scams. Many of the calls originated overseas and related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The FTC says the defendants failed "to act as a gatekeeper to stop them from entering the country." Read the federal complaint against VoIP Terminator.
The complaint states:
- VoIP Terminator was a former Florida corporation based in Lake Mary, Florida. BLMarketing was a former Virginia corporation based in Springfield, Virginia.
- Khan resides in Islamabad, Pakistan. He created BLMarketing in 2015.
- A related operation called itself "VoIP Terminator Pakistan," also doing business as Sip Tech and VT Group. According to Khan, VoIP Terminator used to have approximately thirty employees in Pakistan.
- A traceback inquiry quoted in the complaint identifies a March 12, 2020 call from a campaign labeled "HVAC-Corona," described as an "Offer of air duct cleaning to filter out corona virus."
The complaint also points to Alcazar Networks, a VoIP provider that settled FTC charges on December 3, 2020 for facilitating tens of millions of illegal telemarketing calls.
The order
The final order bars the defendants from the conduct alleged. It includes a civil penalty judgment of $3,256,190 against the defendants, jointly and severally. The judgment is suspended, and that suspension is expressly premised on the truthfulness, accuracy and completeness of the defendants' sworn financial statements.
Related FCC action
In April 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the FTC had sent VoIP Terminator, doing business as BLMarketing, a joint letter. The letter said it was a gateway provider for COVID-19 scam robocalls originating from Oberlo Peer BPO.
Why it matters
The gateway provider is the first point at which U.S. law can reach foreign robocall traffic. Regulators expect that provider to screen what it accepts.
What this means for you
- Screen foreign customers before carrying their traffic.
- Treat traceback requests as notice and act on them.
- Watch for campaigns tied to current events. They are a common scam pattern.
Not legal advice. TCPA.com provides general information, not legal advice, and is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Do not rely on it. Verify any action with your own licensed lawyer before you take it. See our Terms of Use.
Primary sources
About the Author: Harrison Gevirtz
Harrison Gevirtz serves as the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Ringba, a call tracking and pay per call platform, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Harrison Gevirtz is a serial operator in call tracking, call routing and telemarketing operations, and for the past several years he has focused on how federal regulations affect the daily operations of these industries. At TCPA.com, Harrison Gevirtz covers TCPA litigation, Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) enforcement, tech support fraud prosecutions and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rulemaking in a way that's accessible to the non-lawyer executive or compliance manager.
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