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Progress in the fight against robocalls!
There’s progress to report in the fight against robocalls and consumers are playing an important part in the effort to stop the onslaught of unsolicited pre-recorded telemarketing calls or autodialed texts.
Last week, 45 of the nation’s Attorneys General called on the five major phone companies to block robocalls for their customers. In their joint letter to AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and Century Link, the Attorneys General wrote, “Every year, our offices are flooded with consumer complaints pleading for a solution to stop intrusive robocalls. Your companies are now poised to offer your customer the help they need. We urge you to act without delay.”
Be sure to also read, “Rage Against Robocalls.”
If robocalls were a disease, they would be an epidemic. Aaron Foss, founder of Nomorobo, a call-blocking technology, estimates that 35 percent of all calls that come through his system are robocalls. “If your phone rings ten times, roughly four calls will be unwanted robocalls,” he says.
Robocalls are more than a nuisance. They are the vector by which scams enter consumers’ homes. Telemarketing fraud is estimated to cost consumers $350 million a year and it often begins with a robocall. That’s why the Attorneys General for the District of Columbia and every state except Arizona, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Texas have gotten involved: The leading law enforcement officials know that blocking unwanted robocalls can help stifle telemarketing fraud at its source.
The problem is that the major telecoms have balked at taking action. When Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, launched its EndRobocalls.org campaign earlier this year, telephone company lobbyists claimed that federal law required that phone companies connect all calls—even robocalls. Some 39 Attorneys General disagreed and last year called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clarify whether phone companies are permitted to utilize call-blocking technologies. (While call-blocking devices and technologies already exist, consumers have to invest their own money and time to buy and install them.)
Share your story!
Whether you find robo calls a nuisance or they have caused you to be scammed, we want to hear about it. Leave us a comment below.
On June 18, 2015, the FCC announced that federal law does not prohibit telecommunication service providers from offering call-blocking technologies, upon a customer’s request. But they might have repeated the previous week’s weather forecast for all of the response it generated from the carriers.
Last week, the vast majority of the nation’s AGs lost patience, noting:
“This clarification by the FCC should remove any doubt about your legal authority to empower consumers by providing call-blocking technology to help stop robocalls, scam text messages and unwanted telemarketing calls.“
Now it’s up to consumers to add their voice. You can amplify the message by signing our petition at EndRobocalls.org. This petition calls on telephone company CEOs to provide free tools to block unwanted robocalls before they reach your phone.
Consumer contributions on this issue have made a difference before. Your signatures on a previous petition helped push the 2014 Attorneys General letter through the regulatory process and persuade the FCC to give the green light to call-blocking technology. This time, we’re aiming to deliver half a million signatures to the phone companies.
Do your part to pile on the pressure! Sign the petition today!
—Catherine Fredman
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.
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