Response Tree, Chief Fined $7 Million for Illegal Telemarketing

Response Tree LLC tricked consumers into disclosing private contact information and subsequently sold their data, exposing hundreds of thousands of users to illegal telemarketing phone calls, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission said in a complaint.

The marketing lead generator faces a $7 million fine and prohibition against collecting personal information for use in sales lead generation, robocalls, or other outreach to phone numbers on the National Do Not Call registry, under a proposed order accompanying the complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

The action follows an FTC investigation that ...