Charleston, WV (WOAY) – West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require the telephone providers that route calls across the U.S. telephone network to implement additional measures to prevent illegal and fraudulent robocalls. Illegal robocalls cost consumers, law enforcement, and the telecom industry approximately $13.5 billion annually.
Robocalls often originate from overseas scammers that use U.S.-based phone numbers. The FCC recently required phone companies that allow these calls onto the U.S. telephone network to put more protections in place. The FCC now proposes expanding several rules to the phone companies responsible for routing fake and illegal calls across the U.S. phone network.
In a letter, Attorney General Morrisey and a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general support the FCC’s proposal to extend the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN. This caller ID authentication technology helps prevent spoofed calls nationwide to all intermediate phone providers.
Additionally, the coalition urges the FCC to require providers to adopt these protections and additional measures to reduce illegal and fraudulent calls. The initiative would include responding to law enforcement traceback requests within 24 hours and blocking illegal traffic as soon as possible.