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Federal Communications Commission DA 18-1291
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, DC 20554
In the Matter of )
)
Emanuel “Manny” Hernandez; ) File No.: EB-TCD-17-00024357
Click Cash Marketing, LLC; and )
Rock Solid Traffic )
CITATION AND ORDER
UNAUTHORIZED TEXT MESSAGE VIOLATIONS
Adopted: December 21, 2018 Released: December 21, 2018
By the Division Chief, Telecommunications Consumers Division :
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Telecommunications Consumers Division (Division) of the Federal Communications
Commission’s (Commission’s) Enforcement Bureau has identified Emanuel “Manny” Hernandez as the
originator of unsolicited text messages (robotexts). This CITATION AND ORDER (Citation) notifies
Mr. Hernandez, Click Cash Marketing, LLC and Rock Solid Traffic (collectively, Hernandez), that
Hernandez violated the law by sending telemarketing text messages to numbers on the Do-Not-Call
registry (DNC). We therefore direct Hernandez to comply with the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended (Communications Act or Act), including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and
the Commission’s rules (Rules), which prohibit making calls to residential consumers who list their
numbers on the DNC. If, after receipt of this Citation, Hernandez fails to comply with these laws, he may
be liable for significant fines.
2. Notice of Duty to Comply With Law: We issue this Citation pursuant to Section
503(b)(5) of the Communications Act,1 which states that the Commission may not impose monetary
forfeitures against non-regulatees who violate the Act or the Rules unless and until: (a) the Commission
issues a citation to the violator; (b) the Commission provides the violator a reasonable opportunity to
respond; and (c) the violator subsequently engages in conduct described in the citation.2
Accordingly,
Hernandez is hereby on notice that he (and any entity through which he does business) must comply with
Section 227 of the Act and Section 64.1200 of the Rules. If Hernandez subsequently engages in any
conduct of the type this Citation describes—violation of the Act or Rules that govern solicitations to
telephone numbers registered with the DNC3
—Hernandez may be subject to civil penalties, including but
not limited to substantial monetary forfeitures.4
In assessing such forfeitures, the Commission may
1
47 U.S.C. § 503(b)(5).
2
See id.
3 See 47 U.S.C. § 227(c); 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2). Section 227 was added to the Communications Act by the
Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-243, 105 Stat. 2394 (codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227), and
is most commonly known as the TCPA. The TCPA and the Commission’s rules restrict a variety of practices that
are associated with telephone solicitation and the use of the telephone network to deliver unsolicited advertisements
or prerecorded or autodialed telephone calls.
4
This Citation is being issued to the individual, Mr. Hernandez, and the entities through which he conducted
business, Click Cash Marketing, LLC and Rock Solid Traffic. Mr. Hernandez terminated Click Cash Marketing,
LLC corporate registration in summer 2016, several months prior to the violations in this Citation. See infra para. 5.
Rock Solid Traffic, a lead generation tool created by Mr. Hernandez, appears to have no legal existence. See id.
(continued…)
Federal Communications Commission DA 18-1291
5
consider both the conduct that led to this Citation and the conduct following it.
II. BACKGROUND
3. The DNC is a list that the government maintains of people who have elected to not
6
receive telephone solicitations. It is illegal for persons or entities, including advertisers and marketers, to
make marketing calls to telephone numbers listed on the DNC. This prohibition includes both voice calls
and text messages.7 The Commission has held that the prohibitions in the TCPA and the Rules
encompass “both voice calls and text calls to wireless numbers including, for example, short message
service (SMS) calls . . . .”8 Text messaging has become a routine form of communication. According to
one report, American consumers sent 1.66 trillion SMS messages in 2016.9 Unscrupulous marketers,
fraudsters, and other nefarious actors inundate consumers with unwanted text messages to perpetuate
schemes, in violation of the TCPA, and often causing great harm.10
4. The evidence indicates that Hernandez has flooded consumers with text messages that
advertise get-rich-quick schemes. As explained in greater detail below, in October 2016 alone,
Hernandez sent telemarketing text messages to wireless phones of consumers, many of whom had listed
their numbers on the DNC. 11
Hernandez’s robotexting campaigns violate the Communications Act and
the Rules.12
A. Hernandez’s Text Messaging Business
5. Mr. Hernandez is the founder and CEO of Click Cash Marketing, LLC,13 and describes
himself as a “Direct Response Marketer and Successful Entrepreneur with over 8 Years Experience
(Continued from previous page)
Neither Click Cash Marketing, LLC nor Rock Solid Traffic are legal entities; therefore, we treat both as mere
business names of Mr. Hernandez and hold each jointly and several liable with Mr. Hernandez. See infra para. 13.
5 See S. Rep. No. 95-580, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. at 9 (1977) (explaining that a person or entity that has been issued a
citation by the Commission that thereafter engages in the conduct for which the citation was issued, the subsequent
notice of apparent liability “would attach not only for the conduct occurring subsequently but also for the conduct
for which the citation was originally sent”) (emphasis added); see also 47 U.S.C. § 503(b)(2)(D) (“In determining
the amount of such a forfeiture penalty, the Commission or its designee shall take into account the nature,
circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation and, whit respect to the violator, the degree of culpability, any
history of prior offenses, ability to pay, and such other matters as justice may require.”).
6
See 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2).
7
See Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, CG Docket No. 02-278,
Declaratory Ruling and Order, 30 FCC Rcd 7961, 8020, para. 120 (2015) (2015 TCPA Order); Rules and
Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, CG Docket No. 02-278, Report and
Order, 18 FCC Rcd 14014, 14115, para. 165 (2003) (2003 TCPA Order).
8 2003 TCPA Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 14115, para. 165. The Commission affirmed this on multiple subsequent
occasions. See Rules and Regulations Implementing the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and
Marketing Act of 2003, 19 FCC Rcd 15927, 15931, 15934, paras. 8, 17 (2004); 2015 TCPA Order, 30 FCC Rcd at
8016-17, para. 107.
9 CTIA, Annual Wireless Industry Survey, https://www.ctia.org/industry-data/ctia-annual-wireless-industry-survey
(last visited Nov. 27, 2017). This does not include the 277.9 billion multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages
sent during the same time period. Id. Whereas SMS is text only and limited to 160 characters, MMS enables the
user to send a variety of media, such as pictures and videos, as messages.
10 This type of text-based marketing is sometimes called “text spam” or “robotexting.”
11 The issuance of this Citation is timely because the Act only provides a statute of limitations for forfeitures. See 47
U.S.C. § 503(b)(6)(B).
12 47 U.S.C. § 227(c); 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2).
13 Click Cash Marketing, About, http://clickcashmarketing.com/about-us/ (last visited Aug. 3, 2018).
2
Federal Communications Commission DA 18-1291
and counterfeit goods sales. All of the complaints stated that the consumer did not request or authorize
the text messages. Each complainant attested that his or her wireless number was used for a residential
purpose. Division staff traced some of the text messages back to , an Internet-based commercial text
messaging platform, that then identified the entities originating the text messages.19 One such entity was
Click Cash Marketing, LLC. The Division then subpoenaed the text messaging platform provider for all
of Hernandez’s text message records for October 2016. Division staff cross-referenced seven of the
complaints with the October message detail records (MDRs). The texts that consumers complained about
were advertisements for the following get-rich-quick schemes: