Fla. Class Action Alleges TCPA, FTSA Violations Against Tax Prep Advocates

Pia Ginder filed a class action Friday in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Orlando to stop a campaign by Tax Prep Advocates to market Form 1099 tax credit services for the self-employed through the use of prerecorded telemarketing calls to consumers in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Ginder also alleges that Tax Prep Advocates uses automated systems that transmit prerecorded messages to make telemarketing calls into Florida, and that by doing so, it has also violated the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act, said her complaint (docket 6:24-cv-00479). At no point has Ginder consented to receive telemarketing calls regarding Tax Prep Advocates’ services before receiving those calls, it said. The Florida resident’s cellphone number has been listed on the national do not call registry since July 2006, yet she received at least one telemarketing call from Tax Prep Advocates on Feb. 19, said her complaint. The prerecorded call directed her to the company's affiliated website, Your1099Refund.com, it said. Ginder and members of her class have been harmed by Tax Prep Advocates’ conduct “because their privacy has been violated and they were annoyed and harassed,” it said. They were also harmed by the intrusion on their phones that prevented them from receiving “legitimate communications,” it said.