The 50 state attorneys general have banded together in an effort to give the battle against robocalls some real clout.

The new Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force is being organized by Ohio AG Dave Yost, Indiana AG Todd Rokita, and North Carolina AG Josh Stein.

Details

In a statement, Attorney General Josh Stein said that he is organizing a national task force to stop and block the flow of foreign robocalls into the US, along with the Attorneys General of Indiana and Ohio.

All 50 attorneys general make up the task force in issue, the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, whose mission is to look into and pursue legal action against the telecommunications corporations that are introducing foreign robocalls into the US.

Attorney General Stein acknowledged that the government must sue phone companies that break state and federal laws, even if he is leading efforts by attorneys general to collaborate with the federal government and phone companies to combat robocalls.

The newly formed task force has already begun its work by sending 20 civil investigation demands to gateway providers and other organizations that are purportedly in charge of the majority of international robocall traffic.

In exchange for reliable income, gateway providers, according to Attorney General Stein, have turned a blind eye to telecoms transmitting robocalls to the US, abdicating their duty to guarantee that the traffic they are bringing is lawful.

The number of robocalls has increased since 2021 as a result of this carelessness. Over 33 million scam robocalls are sent to Americans every day, according to a report from the national Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center, which Attorney General Stein referenced.

These scam calls include ones that prey on elders and others that appear to be from the IRS in order to steal money, such as Social Security scams.

Due to international fraud robocalls, an estimated $29.8 billion has been taken through scam calls alone in 2021. As a result, the center issues a warning that the robocalls won’t cease as long as phone carriers continue to profit from them.

Methods

Aside from establishing the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, the FCC mandated in February that small telecoms utilize a specific caller ID verification tool to identify robocalls and assist the average person in ignoring them.

The particular caller ID will then serve to reduce the number of possible scam victims.

In addition, the FCC has forbidden phone carriers from receiving calls from providers that have not been certified as a corporation using the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database.

Consumers should be suspicious of callers requesting them to pay with gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrencies, according to Attorney General Stein, and watch out for prepared calls from scam artists posing as representatives of public institutions.

Stein encourages you not to be scared to end the contact if you see any suspicious behavior or if you feel pressed into making a payment.