Urging FCC to Help Stop Robocalls

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging the Federal Communications Commission to encourage telecom companies to implement call blocking and to require call authentication solutions that would protect consumers from illegal robocalls and spoofing. The request comes days after Attorney General Moody and a bipartisan public-private coalition of 51 attorneys general and twelve phone companies unveiled Anti-Robocall Principles to fight illegal robocalls last week. For more on the principles, click here.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Protecting Floridians is my top priority and one way we can better protect consumers is by stopping illegal robocalls. In addition to being very frustrating, these illegal robocalls often initiate scams. I’m proud to join this multistate bipartisan coalition of attorneys general to urge the FCC to take action and to work jointly with the nation’s top phone companies to prevent and investigate illegal robocalls.”

In comments to the FCC, the coalition of attorneys general state that telecom providers should:

• Offer free, automatic call-blocking services to all customers who don’t opt-out;
• Monitor network traffic to identify patterns consistent with robocalls and take action to cut off the calls;
• Implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID call authentication technology, which will help ensure that telephone calls are originating from secure, verified numbers, not spoofed sources; and
• Develop caller ID authentication to prevent robocalls to landline telephones.

Attorney General Moody is joined in signing these comments by attorneys general from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. A copy of the comments is available here.

Many of these actions are also covered in the Anti-Robocall Principles, a set of eight principles focused on addressing illegal robocalls through prevention and enforcement. Twelve phone companies, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint, have already signed on to the principles.

Attorney General Moody has been actively fighting illegal robocalls since taking office. Most recently,Attorney General Moody joined the Federal Trade Commission in a nationwide crackdown, Operation Call It Quits, taking legal action against two separate robocall operations.

This past May, in another matter, Attorney General Moody and the FTC announced the distribution of refund checks to victims of an illegal robocall operation.

In a letter signed by 42 other attorneys general in May,Attorney General Moody urged the Federal Communications Commission to take steps to stop the growing spread of illegal robocalls using spoofing.

Finally, in March, Attorney General Moody called on Congress to enact the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act to reduce the number of illegal robocalls and fight spoofing. The TRACED Act passed the Senate in May. The Act is still awaiting House approval.