Federal Communications Commission	FCC 20-9

STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL,
DISSENTING

Re:	Scott Rhodes a.k.a. Scott David Rhodes, Scott D. Rhodes, Scott Platek, Scott P. Platek, 
File No.: EB-TCD-18-00028178.

We’re all sick of robocalls.  But if you’re like me you especially despise those calls that roll in with a number designed to look familiar so you pick up the call.  These spoofed calls are fraud.  We should throw the book at the scam artists behind them.  We should fine them to the hills.  We can’t be shy about taking strong action to stop this nuisance.
Yet the fine in this enforcement action is nowhere near as high as it should be given that the individual behind this mass of robocalls was responsible for no less than six separate spoofing campaigns.  In fact, it falls far short of the maximum fine the agency could have levied.  There has been an exponential increase in these nuisance calls.  Everyone with a phone knows that.  It’s time for this agency to respond in kind by stepping up our own fines.  There is nothing in the law that stops us from doing so.  In fact, in the report accompanying the just-passed bipartisan TRACED Act, Congress made abundantly clear that “to combat robocalls, stronger penalties are needed.”
Given the repeated nature of the calls in this case, the Federal Communications Commission should have sent the strongest possible signal to get robocallers to stop, send scammers away, and provide consumers with some peace.  Because we fail to do so, I dissent.