Block Robocalls Now: Attorneys General in 50 States Join Forces To End Annoying Issue

Attorneys General from each of the 50 states in the US assembles to give the battle against robocalls some solid muscle.

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.

Stein stated in his announcement that the organization would focus on suing telecoms, especially gateway providers, for enabling or tolerating foreign robocalls made to US phones, as per a report from Engadget.

He explained that gateway providers, which route international calls into the US telephone network, have the legal responsibility to ensure the traffic they bring in is legitimate.

However, according to Stein, they frequently do not take any measures to prevent robocalls from entering the US phone network and, in many instances, purposefully permit robocall traffic to pass in exchange for consistent revenue.

The attorney general stated: "We're... going to take action against phone companies that violate state and federal laws. I'm proud to create this nationwide task force to hold companies accountable when they turn a blind eye to the robocalls they're letting on their networks so they can make more money.

Stein added that he "brought one pathbreaking lawsuit against an out-of-state gateway provider" and will pursue "legal action against others who break our laws and bombard North Carolinians with these harmful, unlawful calls."

Stein has already engaged in combat with dubious gateway providers. In January, he filed a lawsuit against Articul8 for directing more than 65 million calls to North Carolina phone numbers and bombarding locals with up to 200 telemarketing scams per day. He has previously pushed the FCC to take action to curb fraudulent international calls made by companies like Articul8 as well.

West Virginia Joins the Fight Against Robocalls

In West Virginia, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Tuesday that the state joined a nationwide Robocalls block task force.

"Over time, one of the most frequent complaints our office has received has concerned robocalls and the scams they often produce," Morrisey stated.

He acknowledged that robocalls affect the entire country. "That is why this bipartisan effort is so important. We are now poised to take the fight to anyone who helps these robocallers, including those in the telecommunications industry."

The task force has sent 20 gateway providers and other organizations civil investigative demands since they are reportedly in charge of the majority of international robocall traffic, per Yahoo! News.

Millions of Scam Calls Target Americans Daily

The National Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center estimate that every day, more than 33 million robocalls and phishing scams are sent to Americans. These calls include fraud committed by the Social Security Administration against senior citizens, Amazon frauds, and numerous other consumer scams.

Through robocalls, an estimated $29.8 billion was stolen from consumers in 2021. The majority of this fraud activity is overseas.

Robocalls prey on elderly or unwary customers. According to a recent survey, approximately 60 million Americans are estimated to have lost money as a result of phone scammers in the past year, with robocalls accounting for the majority of these scams.

The goal of the Attorneys General is to close down the companies that make money off this scam traffic and would not take any other action to reduce these calls.

For now, per PC Mag, users are advised to be careful in receiving calls from unknown phone numbers. In certain instances, Robocalls US scammers pretend to be legitimate governmental organizations, such as the Social Security Administration.

The task force said scammers like to use pressure and fear tactics to persuade people "to make a quick decision without thinking." So If you feel rushed or terrified, that's a sign to hang up.