In January, voters in New Hampshire received a call pretending to be from President Biden, telling them not to vote in the primaries. An investigation revealed that this was done by Life Corporation, a Texas company previously caught spreading misinformation.
Calls in New Hampshire were noticed by the state attorney general in mid-January. An investigation started into this attempt to influence voters. It was not just a robocall - it was impersonation of the president and several other legal violations.
Fake Biden called the primaries in New Hampshire a "bunch of villains" and told people to "save their vote for the November elections." Investigators traced the calls to a suspicious telecom provider in Lingo, which also went through many other telecoms. The FCC notes that the company (whatever it is called) has been engaging in illegal calls for years.
However, Lingo only relayed the calls on behalf of Life Corporation, a Texas company owned by someone named Walter Monk and also not new to illegal activities. The FCC notes that in 2003, it sued Life and Monk "for disseminating obviously illegal prerecorded and unwanted advertising."
The website of Life Corp. is not very helpful: the company has been "successfully offering a solution since 1987," whatever that means. "When you think: 'I wonder what Life Corporation could do...?' Probably, the answer is YES." "Please call to discuss a mutually beneficial arrangement for both of our companies."
This set of words may suggest that the company may not do anything at all, or that what it does cannot be talked about openly or publicly.
Despite the companies behind the calls being identified, this is just the beginning of legal work. The activities of Life and Lingo have been halted (by the state of New Hampshire and the FCC, respectively), and charges may follow. The attorney general's office has now sent a request to the companies for the necessary records related to the investigation.
Source: TechCrunch
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