The FCC announced Thursday Philip Roesel, of Business Insurance Contracts, reportedly made over 21 million illegal robocalls.

WILMINGTON -- A Wilmington businessman could be face a more than $82 million fine after reportedly making more than 21 million illegal spoofed robocalls, according to a release Thursday from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The release stated that the FCC found that Business Insurance Contracts and its owner and operator, Philip Roesel, who was doing business as Wilmington Insurance Quotes, allegedly made millions of spoofed calls to consumers all over the country.

The calls are a violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act, the release stated, which "prohibits callers from deliberately falsifying caller ID information – a practice called “spoofing” – to disguise their identity with the intent to harm, defraud consumers, or wrongfully obtain anything of value."

"Mr. Roesel of Wilmington, North Carolina displayed inaccurate caller ID information when making robocalls in an effort to sell health insurance, which especially targeted vulnerable consumers, including the elderly, the infirm, and low-income families," the release stated.

In December 2016, a medical paging provider called Spōk complained to FCC staff that robocalling campaigns were disrupting its network. According to the release, the FCC then connected the calls to Roesel, and the FCC's Enforcement Bureau subpoenaed his call records from October 2016 through January 2017.

FCC investigators verified that over 82,000 health insurance telemarketing calls in the records for that time period were made using falsified caller ID information.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement that over the nearly three-month period, Roesel was responsible for more than 200,000 robocalls a day -- 21.5 million altogether.

Pai stated that the FCC on Thursday found Roesel and his company liable for $82,106,000.

On the Business Insurance Contracts website, it states, Roesel began in the insurance industry in 1998 and grew the Wilmington-based company to market nationwide.

"The hallmarks of our company have been providing exceptional service and the most competitive products to meet customers’ needs, while providing the lowest cost to customers to fulfill those needs," the page stated.

Reporter Hannah DelaCourt can be reached at 910-343-2075 or Hannah.DelaCourt@StarNewsOnline.com.