Pennsylvania leaders take new approach to cracking down on robocalls
Last year, Americans received nearly 30 billion scam robocalls and text messages. Now, leaders in Pennsylvania are taking a new approach to try to crack down on them.
"It's not just certain audiences that are targeted in this space. It's really everybody," said Kate Sullivan, CEO of Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania. "Robocalling is just faster and more aggressive than it's ever been," Sullivan said.
The prevalence, exacerbated by artificial intelligence, is why 49 attorneys general across the country sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission to strengthen its rules to prevent scammers from accessing legitimate phone numbers.
"You have individuals that will purchase maybe 100,000 different phone numbers," Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said. "Those numbers will land somewhere where you have a nefarious actor who will use those numbers to do the robocalls."
Sunday is part of the Anti-Robocall Task Force, along with West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey. Last year, the coalition sent warning letters to major phone service providers to stop allowing illegal robocalls to reach consumers. Now they're building on this by going directly to the FCC.
"The consumer matters, and we want to make sure that our constituents, the consumers that are in our states' voices, are being heard at the highest level as loudly as they can be," McCuskey said.
Sunday said they want to put more onus on companies to not sell these numbers, and if they do, to have documentation that can be provided to law enforcement so they can trace back and hold the scammers accountable.
KDKA-TV reached out to the FCC for comment. A spokesperson said in part that they "welcome this input from state leaders." They also mentioned, "The Commission proposed expanding certification and disclosure requirements to all providers that receive telephone numbering resources… to stop scammers from exploiting gaps in the system."
"Getting ahead of it and more protections for the consumers, I think, does have quite a bit of value," Sullivan said.
As for what you can do, the BBB and AGs said it's better to let a robocall go to voicemail. If you decline it, that indicates you're a real person and may get more calls. Also, make sure to report robocalls to the BBB or the Federal Trade Commission.
