(The Center Square) – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes won a $902,508 case involving four companies owned by Matthew Willes for putting bogus missed delivery slips on people’s doors saying “Sorry We Missed You.”
The slips were used to get people’s “personal information,” and they agreed to get more phone calls from the companies Valley Delivery LLC, My Home Services LLC, Next Day Delivery LLC, and Next Day Holdings LLC.
“While on the call, Defendants’ representatives typically sent the homeowner a text message with a link they instructed the homeowner to click on in order to verify information,” the judgment stated. “The link took the homeowner to an online form where the homeowner unknowingly consented to receive telephone solicitations.”
Of course, there were no packages to go along with the fake slips. The phone numbers were then used to make telemarketing calls for other businesses.
“Mr. Willes and his companies went to great lengths to manipulate unsuspecting consumers into providing personal information and agreeing to receive telemarketing solicitations,” Mayes said in a statement on Wednesday. “It is unbelievable how far some people will go to deceive Arizona consumers. I am pleased that my office was able to stop this deceptive practice and hold the defendants accountable for their actions.”
When broken down, $727,247 is being allocated as civil penalties and $175,261 for other legal costs.
According to the news release, the case started under the Mark Brnovich administration in 2020, but the case ultimately entered “default judgment.”
The judgment document stated that 333,283 “door tags” were left on doors since Jan. 2017, and roughly 60,681 people ended up calling the number listed, and there were also fake websites tied with the company to promote the deceptive business practices from Jan. 2017 until March 2020.