Ohio AG Yost asks FCC to help stop international scam calls

By: 
Press Staff Writer

        Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to help stop the flood of foreign-based, illegal robocalls that attempt to scam Americans.
        A letter sent by Yost and the 50 other attorneys general calls for the FCC to require gateway providers – the companies that allow foreign calls into the United States – to take steps to reduce how easily robocalls have been able to enter the U.S. telephone network, including implementing STIR/SHAKEN, a caller ID authentication technology that helps prevent spoofed calls.
        “The main gatekeepers at the front doors are working to keep these people out,” Yost said. “We need the gatekeepers to the back doors and the windows to get in the game.”
        In 2020, Americans lost more than $520 million through robocall scams.
        The attorneys general contend that gateway providers should be required to implement this technology within 30 days of it becoming a rule to help eliminate spoofed calls and to make sure that international calls that originate from U.S. telephone numbers are legitimate.
        In December, the 51 attorneys general successfully helped to persuade the FCC to shorten by a year the deadline for smaller telephone companies to implement STIR/SHAKEN.
        The attorneys general are asking the FCC to require these gateway providers to take additional measures to reduce robocalls, including:
        • Responding to requests from law enforcement, attorneys general or the FCC to trace back calls within 24 hours.
        • Blocking calls when providers are aware of an illegal or likely fraudulent caller.
        • Blocking calls that originate from numbers that are on a “do not originate” list – such as government phone numbers that are for incoming calls only.
        • Ensuring that foreign telephone companies they partner with are ensuring that calls are being made from legitimate numbers.
        The attorneys general are also encouraging the FCC to require all phone companies to block calls from a gateway provider if it fails to meet these requirements.
        Yost joined in sending the letter to the FCC with the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

 

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