美国男子因拨打近1亿次骚扰电话而被罚1.2亿美元!

A man has been fined a record-breaking $120m for making more than 90 million automated marketing telephone calls in the US.

美国一名男子因打出了超过9000万通自动拨打的营销电话，而创纪录地被罚款1.2亿美元。

Miami salesman Adrian Abramovich was accused of trying to sell holidays and timeshare properties with the robocalls.

这位来自迈阿密、名叫阿德里安·阿布拉莫维奇的推销员，被指控使用骚扰电话来销售一些度假类和分时度假类的产品。

The fine is the largest the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ever issued.

这是美国联邦通信委员会有史以来发布的最大的一笔罚款。

Mr Abramovich said he had not intended to "defraud or cause harm".

阿布拉莫维奇表示，他无意欺骗或对客户造成伤害。

But FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement that the defence "isn't very convincing".

但是美国联邦通信委员会的主席潘基特却在一则声明中称，这一抗辩并不具有可信度。

"Mr Abramovich doesn't dispute that he was responsible for placing 96,758,223 robocalls during a three-month period in 2016," he said.

他表示：“阿布拉莫维奇先生对自己应对在2016年的一个季度内拨打的96758223通骚扰电话负有责任这一事实没有异议。”

The FCC said Mr Abramovich had spoofed his caller ID to make people believe they were receiving a call from a local number. That was in violation of US law.

联邦通信委员会称，阿布拉莫维奇先生伪造了他的来电显示，让人们相信他们收到的是一个本地电话号码。而这一行为违反了美国法律。

A pre-recorded message would offer an "exclusive" holiday or travel deal, posing as an offer from a well-known brand such as TripAdvisor or Hilton hotels.

预先录制的通话将会提供有关“高级”度假游或旅行套餐的信息，佯装得就像如猫途鹰或希尔顿酒店等知名品牌一样。

The call would then be transferred to a human operator in an overseas call centre, who would try to sell the consumer a holiday or timeshare arrangement.

接着这通电话会转接到海外电话中心的人工客服，客服会推销给客户有关度假和分时度假行程安排的产品。

The FCC originally issued the fine in 2017, but Mr Abramovich had appealed against the decision and sought to have the fine reduced.

联邦通信委员会最初是在2017年发布的该罚款，但阿布拉莫维奇先生对这一决定提出了上诉，并试图降低罚款。

But Mr Pai said it was the "largest illegal robocalling scheme" the FCC had investigated and therefore the fine was "appropriate".

但潘基特主席表示，这是联邦通信委员会调查过的“最大规模的非法骚扰电话策划”，因此1.2亿美元的罚款是“合理的”。