(WHTM) – Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry joined a lawsuit against Avid Telecom and top executives of the company on May 23 for allegedly initiating and facilitating billions of illegal robocalls.

The suit alleges Michael D. Lansky, LLC, which operates under the name Avid Telecom, owner Michael Lansky and its Vice President Stacey S. Reeves of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and other federal and state telemarketing and consumer laws.

According to the multi-state lawsuit, more than 7.5 billion calls were made to telephone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry sent or transmitted by Avid Telecom.

Of the 7.5 billion calls around 360 million were calls allegedly made to Pennsylvanians.

“Robocall scams are not just an annoyance, they are illegal — and they are used to take advantage of our most vulnerable populations,” Attorney General Henry said. “Pennsylvanians have made it clear that robocalls are not welcome here, and I am proud to stand with my colleague Attorneys General to announce this important action in the fight against illegal robocalls.”

The Attorney General’s office says Avid Telecom is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider that sells data, phone numbers, dialing software, and/or expertise to help its customers make mass robocalls.

More than 24.5 billion calls were transmitted between Dec. 2018 and Jan. 2023 and more than 90% of those calls lasted less than 15 seconds (indicates likely robocalls, according to the Attorney General’s office.

Avid Telecom allegedly sent or transmitted scam calls about the following:

  • Social Security Administration scams
  • Medicare scams
  • Auto warranty scams
  • Amazon scams
  • Direct TV scams
  • Credit card interest rate reduction scams
  • Employment scams

The USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group sent around 329 notifications to Avid Telecom about them transmitting these calls, but Avid Telecom continued to transmit the calls, says Henry.

Attorney General Henry is joined in filing the complaint with Attorney Generals from 47 other states and Washington D.C.