Rokita files major lawsuit against alleged robocalling scammers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Attorney General Todd Rokita on Thursday announced a major lawsuit against a company that allegedly operated as a gateway for foreign robocalling scammers.

The Evansville-based company, Startel Communication LLC, helped robocallers in India, the Philippines and Singapore, Rokita said. Those robocallers made over 4.8 million calls to Hoosies and hundreds of millions of calls to other states.

Some of the most popular scams used were IRS and Social Security Administration imposter scams, Rokita said. The investigation began with customer complaints and took over a year to complete.

The lawsuit also includes two California-based companies — Piratel LLC and VoIP Essential LLC — which, combined, routed 4.6 million robocalls.

Of the Hoosiers who were called, Rokita said, more than 780,000 were on the federal “Do Not Call” registry and more than 605,000 were on Indiana’s “Do Not Call” list.

According to Rotika, the lawsuit alleges the companies committed millions of violations of both federal and Indiana law. The companies face potential fines in the billions.