In a letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) on Monday, Attorney General Matt Denn and a bi-partisan group of 29 state attorneys general are urging the FCC to adopt rules that would allow telephone providers to block illegal robocalls – some of which lead to consumer scams.
The FCC has requested public comment on rules that would allow providers to block several types of “spoofed” calls, in which a call appears to be coming from one number, but is actually coming from a different number. Scammers frequently use spoofed calls to hide their identity and to trick consumers into believing that their calls are legitimate.
“Delaware consumers tell us they are inundated with these intrusive and often illegal calls, and would like a way to stop them before they ever come through,” Attorney General Denn said. “The FCC’s proposed rules would help with that, and my fellow Attorneys General and I urge the FCC to adopt the rules without delay.”
Currently, regulatory roadblocks prevent telecommunications companies from blocking many illegal robocalls. If the new rules are adopted, providers would be allowed to block calls coming from invalid numbers, unallocated numbers, and numbers whose owners have requested be blocked. For example, phone providers would be able to block a scammer that is using a telephone number that clearly can’t exist because it hasn’t been assigned.
The letter sounds the alarm about the growing number of telephone scam complaints across the country and supports the FCC’s proposal to remove regulatory roadblocks. As the letter points out, “legitimate businesses do not need to use any of these methods to contact consumers.”
Attorney General Denn was joined on the letter by the attorneys general of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
For a copy of the letter, click here. For a copy of the notice of proposed rules, click here.
Source: Attorney General Matt Denn Office
Image Credits: Matt Denn