Daily Digest – December 15. Six Charged With Running Phony Collection Scam; TCPA Suit Moving Forward Even Though Plaintiff Deleted Text Messages

The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN, a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs, and collection agencies worldwide. 

SIX CHARGED WITH RUNNING PHONY COLLECTION SCAM THAT BILKED $6M FROM CONSUMERS

• Six residents of North Carolina are facing civil and criminal charges and are planning to plead guilty to running a debt collection that bilked consumers out of 6 million, according to a published report. The individuals are all facing charges of engaging in a fraudulent debt collection conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. One of the group is also facing one count of money laundering.

CFPB SUED FOR NOT DISCLOSING DOCUMENTS RELATED TO ARBITRATION RULEMAKING

• A non-profit group called the Cause of Action Institute has filed a lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, alleging that the CFPB violated the Freedom of Information Act for failing to release certain documents related to the bureau’s rulemaking process regarding mandatory arbitration clauses.

TCPA SUIT ALLOWED TO MOVE FORWARD, EVEN AFTER PLAINTIFF ADMITTED DELETING TEXT MESSAGES 

• A lawsuit against Pizza Hut, claiming violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, is being allowed to continue, even though the plaintiff deleted the text messages from his smartphone, including messages that may show he asked his friend to sign him up for the promotional campaign. A district court has ruled that because the messages were deleted months before the plaintiff decided to sue Pizza Hut, the duty to preserve evidence was not triggered.

WORTH NOTING: An investigation has uncovered 368 claims of sexual abuse and exploitation from gymnasts during the past 20 years … Ashley Madison will pay $1.6 million to settle claims related to a data breach and misleading customers by creating fake female users … Yahoo announced it has uncovered another data breach, this time affecting 1 billion accounts … American Express is now giving all parents 20 weeks of paid leave … Why companies are not moving abroad as many of them claimed they would … The most powerful people in the world … Are traditional car brands in trouble with the growth of self-driving cars? … The 10 unhealthiest states are all in the Southeastern United States … Google released the top search queries for the year … How to capitalize on the top trends coming in 2017 … Patients at the worst hospitals are three times more likely to die than if they go to a good hospital.

Coming next summer: “Despicable Me 3”

Amazon made its first-ever delivery by drone. The order took 13 minutes from click to delivery

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The Daily Digest is sponsored by TCN, a leading provider of cloud-based call center technology for enterprises, contact centers, BPOs, and collection agencies worldwide.