Telefunding Scam That Called Pennsylvania Numbers 61 Million Times Shut Down

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

HARRISBURG (KDKA) - Attorney General Josh Shapiro says a telefunding scam that placed more than 61 million calls to numbers in Pennsylvania has been shut down.

Shapiro's office joined the FTC and dozens of agencies from 37 states along with the District of Columbia to enter a settlement with Associated Community Services and "a number" of related defendants, saying they "swindled generous Americans" into donating to charities that didn't do what they said they'd do.

Associated Community Services allegedly called numbers in Pennsylvania 61,526,158 times from 2016 to 2019.

The Attorney General's Office says the telefunding scam was massive, with over 47,000 Pennsylvania phone numbers called more than 10 times in a week, over 81,000 called more than three times a day and nearly 276,000 called more than two times an hour.

The Attorney General's Office says Associated Community Service placed 1.3 billion deceptive charitable fundraising calls across the country and collected more than $110 million.

The shareholders of Associated Community Service and a company senior managers formed after being shut down in 2019 will pay a total of $500,000, the Attorney General's Office says. That will go to charities supporting causes like breast cancer, children with autism and homeless veterans that the telemarketing scams solicited donations for.