The US based companies will make the argument that they aren't liable for the infringement made by the third-party "lead generation" companies that they employ.

The US based companies will make the argument that they aren't liable for the infringement made by the third-party "lead generation" companies that they employ. They will argue that they have no way to police their actions, and therefore should not be held liable for any illegal activity. What's worse are the scammers who call from the "social security administration" trying to get you to wire them thousands and thousands of $$. They are quite insidious, sophisticated, and can sniff out even the slightest misstep you make when you try to string them along. I have heard stories, second-hand, of senior citizens who were scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars through schemes like this. It's abhorrent. Source: I sued a home security company who made the above argument re: using a third-party lead generation company in person with me at the local courthouse during settlement talks. I did manage to get him to settle for several thousand $$ anyway, plus he had to travel several hundred miles to make an 8am Monday court appointment, so I figure that's a win.