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Pennsylvania among 48 states suing robocall company Avid Telecom

Pa. Attorney General joins lawsuit over robocalls
Pa. Attorney General joins lawsuit over robocalls 02:01

HARRISBURG (KDKA) - Everyone is fed up with robocalls at this point. 

Well, now dozens of states, including Pennsylvania, are taking one company to court alleging that they are disrupting daily life. 

As it seems like robocalls have only gotten worse, attorneys general from 48 states are taking one of the biggest robocall companies to court. 

On Tuesday, every state except for Alaska and South Dakota filed a lawsuit against Avid Telecom - a company accused of making more than 7.5 billion robocalls to people on the National Do Not Call Registry. 

Robocalls are the most common contact method of scammers and in 2022, the Federal Trade Commission said that on average phone scams stole around $1,400 per person in the United States. 

According to the lawsuit, Avid Telecom sells data, phone numbers, and dialing software to customers that make these robocalls and the company provides its customers with direct inward dialing, which allows callers to fake their area codes so that they match the codes of their recipients. 

In Arizona alone, where Avid Telecom is based and the lawsuit was filed - Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said that nearly 197 million robocalls were made in her state between December 2018 and January 2023. 

Both her state and 47 others are fed up and seeking a jury trial to put a stop to it. 

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