New Hampshire's attorney general on Tuesday identified a Texas telecommunications company as the source of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated robocalls that appeared to impersonate President Joe Biden. The robocall told Democrats not to vote in last month's presidential primary.
Republican Rep. John Formella said at a news conference in Concord that his office has launched a criminal investigation after working with the Federal Communications Commission and private industry groups to trace the source of the robocalls. said.
NBC News first reported that voters were being called ahead of the January primary vote.
As artificial intelligence technology becomes more accessible, Formella said he and other law enforcement agencies want to make a case to prevent others from trying something similar ahead of the November election.
“Never before have we seen such a blatant attempt to mislead voters, similar to elections,” Formella said of AI robocalls. “We don’t want this to be the first of many.”
In addition to federal communications laws, the calls may violate New Hampshire election laws against voter suppression, he said, adding that law enforcement is actively pursuing civil and criminal proceedings against the companies allegedly behind the calls.
Formella said he received calls from between 5,000 and 25,000 people the weekend before the Jan. 23 primary. That's a significant number considering that fewer than 125,000 voters participated in the Democratic primary.
The call urged Democrats to “save their vote” until the November general election, creating the false impression that voters could only vote once. Formella said he couldn't say whether the call actually caused anyone to stay home.
Investigators traced the call to Life Corp., a Texas communications marketing company, which appears to be owned by a man named Walter Monk, they added. Formella declined to comment on any potential motivations for the call, political or otherwise, and didn't say much about the company or its owners.
“We are confident that this is the source of the call,” Formella said, adding that the company was once “involved” with the Federal Communications Commission.
Formella's office sent a cease-and-desist letter to Life Corp. on Tuesday, ordering it to stop “further conduct” that could constitute voter suppression under state law.
Limited information about Monk or Life Corp. is readily available online, and the companies do not appear to have websites. On LinkedIn, Walter Monk describes himself as a Dallas-based entrepreneur and the owner or chief technology officer of two other telecommunications companies.
The owner of the LinkedIn profile did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
In 2003, the FCC sued Life Corp. for producing “unsolicited pre-recorded advertisements on residential telephone lines” in violation of the Federal Communications Act. and issued formal subpoenas to more than a dozen alias company names.
The alias companies listed in the quote appear to include dating businesses with names like “The Dating Game” and “Single Stars.” Another company appeared to offer psychic services called “Psychic Inroads,” and several others had names similar to major financial companies or credit card processors, such as “Fidelity Checks, Inc.” and “Midwest Card Services.”
In a 2022 interview with the Fort Worth, Texas trade publication, Monk's age is listed as 69 and he is cited as the founder of a political polling firm that employs 30 people. A search of Federal Election Commission data found no payments to a company by that name.
A search of Monk's political donations turned up a $5,000 check from 2008, and an additional $5,000 sent the same day to a mysterious political group called PLR PAC by a person who showed up with Monk's wife. The group, known as 527 for the portion of the tax code that governs it, appears to have spent nearly all of the $65,673 it raised in independent spending to support then-Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Other than that, there are few other traces of the group.
Formella cited Lingo Telecom, another Texas company involved in the robocalls, as well as some companies he did not name, but declined to provide details about their connection to the calls.
According to Lingo Telecom's website, the company serves more than 120,000 customers and has operations in Dallas. Formella's office said Lingo Telecom “suspended service” to Life Corp. after being notified of the results of the investigation.
New Hampshire officials, who are working hard to protect the nation's first primary after the Democratic National Committee attempted to end it, have taken the matter seriously and the state attorney general's office said NBC News first reported on the incident. The investigation was released a few hours later. Fake Biden robocalls.
Formella said his office has received “multiple complaints” and is pursuing the case with the FCC, an anti-robocall coalition that includes attorneys general from all 50 states, and a telecommunications industry trade group that conducts call tracing for law enforcement agencies and others. They said they were investigating.
“Our message is clear,” Formella said. “Law enforcement across the country is bipartisan and united and ready to work together to fight any attempt to undermine our elections. “We are committed to keeping our elections free, fair and secure.”
As concerns about AI, as well as politics, grow, the FCC last month criminalized most robocalls generated by AI.
“Don’t try it.” Formella said. “If you do so… the consequences for your actions will be severe.”