So Telnyx filed its response to the FCC’s $4.5MM NAL today and it is an incredibly interesting saga.

For those of you just catching up, Telnyx is a carrier that apparently allowed an outfit known as “MarioCop” onto its network.

MarioCop was able to target major players at the FCC–we’ll get just how major in a second–with a robocall scheme pretending to be an FCC fraud detection service. Ultimately the scammers were apparently trying to convince FCC staffers to fall for a gift card scam.

WHAT EVEN IS KYC?: Telnyx LLC CEO is Fighting Back Against Proposed $4.5MM FCC Penalty–and He Kind of Has A Point

If that sounds like a longshot, it is.

And Telnyx CEO David Casem has suggested his company was intentionally “swatted” by MarioCop who brought the FCC heat down on it.

But in this company’s NAL response–out today– Telnyx raises another issue that is jut fascinating– how did MarioCop have the personal cell phone numbers of so many FCC staffers to begin with?

As the NAL response says:

Commission employees (current and past) and their families were the primary and intentional targets of the calls placed by MarioCop. The persons reached include the current Chairman of the Commission, the Chairman of the Commission during President Trump’s first term, one current commissioner, numerous chiefs of staff, legal and policy advisors in the offices of all of the current commissioners and the last two Commission chairs, members of the front offices of the Enforcement Bureau, the Office of General Counsel, the Wireline Competition Bureau, the Office of the Managing Director, and staff attorneys of such bureaus and divisions, family members of Commission personnel, and other government officials and industry participants in the telecom policy ecosystem.

Wow.

As the response points out, “personal cell phone numbers of Commission personnel are not made publicly available by the agency, and the identities and personal cell phone numbers of their family members are not, either.”

So how in the world did MarioCop get all those phone numbers?

Hmmmm.

The answer to that question is just one of many lurking behind the FCC’s actions against Telnyx. And while it is tempting to say Telnyx must have done something wrong because ipso facto when the FCC gets targeted with a robocall scam the carrier is to blame, thee is more here than meets the eye.

Full response here: Telnyx Response

Press release here: Telnyx Press Release