The Koval Firm

01/21/2022

For the folks who were upset that I updated my cover photo, this is for you (and Major).

06/10/2020

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/09/tech/fcc-robocall-fine/index.html

Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our government needs to get on the ball!

The US government is seeking fines of up to $225 million from health insurance telemarketers who allegedly made a billion unwanted robocalls in violation of Federal Communications Commission rules.

10/06/2019

Capital One is not your friend!

The subprime lending giant is a textbook case in creating a corporate culture of denial.

05/07/2019

The CFPB's proposed new rules for debt collectors are a joke. The gist of it is here:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/7/18535595/trump-debt-collection-email-text-call-policy

More commentary to come later.

Could also call seven times a week

05/07/2019

Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a Notice of Proposed Rule making to implement the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). That's the federal law that protects you from bad conduct by debt collectors. Once I've had to to study it, I'll post my take on it.

Here's the link for those of you with insomnia:

03/26/2019

https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/verizon-launch-free-app-block-robocalls/NbpFMPq7SMpmvtTuPBfdoI/

I plan to try this new app when it becomes available. Right now about 80% of all of my calls are robocalls. I'm hoping this will help and will post after I've given it a trial.

Verizon already has a paid app to block annoying robocalls, but plans to have a free version available for its customers by the end of the month.

02/11/2019

Good editorial from Washington Post today about robocalls. Call your Congressperson!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/frustrated-by-robocalls-proposals-in-congress-offer-some-hope/2019/02/10/c12f4c6e-2aee-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html?utm_term=.2ef693aa4723

FORGET A dystopian robot future. The present, in which it is impossible to sit down to dinner without a machine calling your smartphone, is troubling enough. The scourge of robocalls has worsened in recent years, but stirrings in Congress suggest spam-slammed Americans may finally find some relief.

Consumers frustrated with the constant flow of unwanted calls have technology to thank. Gone are the days when clunky hardware meant autodialing was a hassle, and when long-distance fees could cost a marketer more than they could hope to make. Now, spammers can target thousands of phones an hour with only a click, almost for free, no matter where they are — and spoofing software allows them to do it while concealing their identities. Any solution, then, will have to tackle two problems at once: run-of-the-mill spammers who do not spoof and the fraudsters who use fake numbers for their scams.

Thankfully, proposals in both chambers of Congress offer some hope. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J) introduced a bill in the House last week closing the loophole on autodialers who today take advantage of outdated legal language. That should deter legitimate businesses from abuse. As for the spoofers, major carriers could deploy a technology as early as this year that will tell consumers whether an incoming call comes from a verified number. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai had already urged carriers to adopt these authentication systems, but he stopped short of mandating it. Mr. Pallone’s bill would do just that, as would legislation in the Senate co-written by Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and John Thune (R-S.D.). And Mr. Pallone’s sensibly would require phone companies to provide blocking services against spoofers free of charge.

The bills would also help with enforcement: The House proposal would grant the FCC the ability to fine rule-breakers at first offense, and the Senate counterpart would allow the agency to levy fines of $10,000 per call, up from $1,500. Both bills would extend the statute of limitations on violations.

The Federal Trade Commission could benefit as well from additional authority, not included in either bill, to go after telecommunications companies that are grossly negligent in stopping robocalls on their services. Resources to facilitate international cooperation, often necessary for catching a scammer, are also crucial.

Robocalls offer an easy opportunity for bipartisan consensus. After all, politicians have not been spared from the onslaught of unwanted ringing. Legislation that combines the most promising aspects of the House and Senate proposals, carving out appropriate exceptions for legitimate uses of autodialing, would be a win for every human against today’s most bothersome bots.

All members of Congress have good reason to agree on these bills.

01/30/2019

Congress needs to criminalize robo-calling!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/01/29/report-americans-got-billion-robocalls-last-year-up-percent/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.980816961563

By Brian Fung
January 29 at 2:36 PM

Americans are now getting so many robo-calls on a regular basis that many are simply choosing not to answer the phone altogether.

That’s one big takeaway from a report released Tuesday by Hiya, a Seattle-based spam-monitoring service that analyzed activity from 450,000 users of its app to determine the scope of unwanted robo-calling — and how phone users react when they receive an automated call.

Consistent with other analyses, Hiya’s report found that the number of robo-calls is on the rise. Roughly 26.3 billion robo-calls were placed to U.S. phone numbers last year, Hiya said, up from 18 billion in 2017. One report last year projected that as many as half of all cellphone calls in 2019 could be spam.

While many businesses have legitimate purposes for using robo-calls — think package delivery services, home maintenance technicians and banks — unwanted robo-calls represent a growing challenge for regulators and telecom companies.
In its analysis of a month’s worth of calling data, Hiya found that each of its app users reported an average of 10 unwanted robo-calls. Many more incoming calls, about 60 on average, were from unrecognized numbers or numbers not linked to a person in the recipient’s address book.

What’s more, only about half of all cellphone calls are being answered at all, according to Hiya, whose systems integrate with lists of known and suspected spam numbers maintained by the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

“As our phones continue to be inundated by robo-calls, many people no longer want to pick up the phone at all,” said Hiya chief executive Alex Algard. But, Algard added, that can also lead to missing important calls from doctor’s offices, banks, schools and other institutions.
Federal regulators have moved to crack down on unwanted and spam communications, levying massive fines against those who have illicitly harassed people on the national do-not-call telemarketing list and adopting rules facilitating the rollout of new technologies to combat unwanted calls.

This month, T-Mobile said it would soon begin activating a technical protocol known as SHAKEN/STIR, a type of caller authentication that follows the same principles as website encryption. Other carriers including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have also committed to implementing the feature. Endorsed by the FCC, the new protocol is part of an industry-wide push to limit the effects of caller-ID spoofing, which is when a spammer poses as a caller from a nearby area code in an effort to trick recipients into picking up the phone.

The FCC received 52,000 consumer complaints about caller-ID spoofing alone in 2018, the agency has said.

We’re getting so many unwanted robocalls, many of us are refusing to answer the phone.

10/29/2018

Heading back to Atlanta tomorrow after attending the annual Consumer Rights Litigation Conference in Denver. I was privileged to have the opportunity to speak on Effective Strategies for Negotiating Settlement Agreements. Great conference. Great city.

10/23/2018

More bad conduct by an Atlanta debt collection mill.

Debt collectors seized Cu***ng woman's savings for debt she didn't owe.