Foreign robocalls will soon be a thing of the past.
The Attorneys General of all 50 US states has recently announced they will be creating a special litigation task force to investigate telecommunications companies suspected to be introducing foreign robocalls into the US and sue them if they are culpable, per Ars Technica.
The creation of a special litigation task force is the latest in the US government's efforts to stem and fight against the increasing number of robocalls within and without the country.
US Attorneys General Special Litigation task Force Details
Attorney General Josh Stein mentioned in an announcement that he, along with the Attorneys General of Indiana and Ohio, is leading the formation of a nationwide task force assigned to curb and stem the flow of foreign robocalls to the US.
The Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, the task force in question, is made up of all 50 attorneys general to investigate and take legal action against the telecommunications companies responsible for bringing foreign robocalls into the US.
Although Attorney General Sten is leading the efforts by attorneys generals to work with the federal government and phone companies to fight robocalls, he also mentioned that the government must take the legal fight to phone companies that violate state and federal laws.
The new task force is already put to work, issuing 20 civil investigative demands to 20 gateway providers and other entities allegedly responsible for a majority of foreign robocall traffic.
Attorney General Stein believes that gateway providers have turned a blind eye to telecoms sending robocalls to the US in exchange for steady revenue, neglecting their responsibility to ensure the traffic they're bringing is legal.
This neglect ultimately led to the increase of robocalls since 2021. According to a report from the national Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center, a study in which Attorney General Stein cited, more than 33 million scam robocalls reach Americans by the day.
These scam calls include Social Security scams targetting seniors and those that have people pretend they're from the IRS to steal their money.
Additionally, an estiamted $29.8 billion has been stolen through scam calls alone in 2021, thanks to foreign scam robocalls. As such, the center warns that the robocall will not stop as long as phone providers are earning from them, per Engadget.
Methods On How To Turn The Tide
Aside from the formation of the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, the FCC ordered in February that small telecoms use a special caller ID authentication tool to identify robocalls and help the average joe ignore them.
The special caller ID will then help decrease the potential number of victims of a scam.
The FCC has also prohibited phone companies from accepting calls from providers that have not been certified as a company following the FCC's Robocall Mitigation Database.
As for the consumer, Attorney general Stein advises people to be wary of callers asking them to pay by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency and look out for prerecorded calls from posers pretendings to be from government agencies.
If you suspect fraudulent activity or if you're being pressured into paying someone, Stein advises you to not be afraid to hang up the call.
