The FCC issued a cease and desist letter and described the robocall campaign as illegal. It said failure to comply could result in a downstream block of all traffic from Veriwave. The Bureau also issued a K4 order notifying voice service providers that they may be permitted to not accept Veriwave’s traffic.

It is estimated 15.8 million calls with prerecorded messages about the “National Tax Relief Program” were placed between Nov. 1, 2023 and January 23. The Bureau said there is no evidence the program existed.

The calls increased in volume in the three months before the start of the 2024 tx filing season, offering to “rapidly clear” the call recipient’s tax debt. Recipients were asked to provide personal information, including dates of birth and Social Security numbers.