PHOENIX (Legal Newsline) — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced July 5 that he has addressed a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging it to adopt rules that would allow telephone providers to block illegal robocalls. Brnovich is joined by a bipartisan coalition of 30 attorneys general.
The FCC is currently seeking public comment on rules that would allow telephone providers to block “spoofed calls,” calls that appear to come from one number but actually come from a different number. Scam artists use spoofed calls to trick consumers into believing the calls are from legitimate sources.
“Not every problem requires a government solution but this is clearly an area where the federal government can act to help protect consumers from scam calls,” Brnovich said. “Complaints to our office about telephone scams have increased almost 1,000 percent in the past two years. We need to use every tool available to protect consumers from scam calls. The FCC should act to remove regulatory roadblocks preventing companies from blocking illegal calls.”
Joining Arizona in the letter were Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin.