BROADCASTS.com

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TripAdvisor and the\\xa0Federal Communications Commission\\xa0are conducting separate investigations into the same series of robocalls that have caused a public nuisance. The FCC became aware of the calls when\\xa0they\\xa0shut down a paging service used to communicate with emergency personnel. TripAdvisor began to investigate when\\xa0its\\xa0customers reported\\xa0that these\\xa0calls were fraudulently using\\xa0the travel site\\u2019s\\xa0name to sell vacation packages. Finally, after months of investigating, the head of TripAdvisor\\u2019s\\xa0anti-fraud (\\u201canti-fraud,\\u201d not \\u201cfraud\\u201d team)\\xa0team, Fred Garvin, gets a break in the case. He personally receives\\xa0one\\xa0of the robocalls that have been plaguing TripAdvisor\\u2019s customers. Working\\xa0backward\\xa0to find the source of the\\xa0call, TripAdvisor gathers the information\\xa0it needs\\xa0to track down where the calls are coming from. Once\\xa0it has\\xa0sufficient evidence, TripAdvisor reaches out to the FCC.\\xa0To the website\\u2019s\\xa0surprise, the FCC has also been tirelessly investigating the same robocalls. Now working together, TripAdvisor and the FCC build a case against the source of the calls,\\xa0\\u201cRobocall King\\u201d\\xa0Adrian Abramovich.\\xa0The FCC finds that in a\\xa0three-month\\xa0period,\\xa0\\xa0Abramovich is responsible for making more than 96 million robocalls. These illegal\\xa0calls\\xa0use the names of companies\\xa0such as\\xa0TripAdvisor,\\xa0Marriott, Expedia, and Hilton to trick victims into purchasing vacation packages. With the\\xa0culprit identified, the FCC gets to\\xa0work shutting down Abramovich\\u2019s operation.