(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The flood of robocalls pouring into Ohio every day has prompted Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to call on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move up the deadline for all telephone companies to implement caller ID technology meant to weed out the unwelcome calls and thwart related consumer scams.
In joining a bipartisan coalition of all 51 attorneys general, Yost today cautioned the FCC that robocall operators will take advantage of consumers until their phone carriers implement the mandated STIR-SHAKEN technology, which helps phone-service providers to verify calls.
“If the smaller providers weren’t a big part of the problem, maybe a little more time would be warranted,” Yost said. “But robust enforcement isn’t going to happen until the same rules apply to all of them.”
In 2019, the FCC – the federal agency that regulates telemarketers – required phone companies to add the STIR/SHAKEN technology to their networks, with large companies mandated to do so by June 2021 and smaller companies by June 2023.
In today’s testimony submitted to the FCC, Yost and other attorneys general encouraged the FCC to require all companies to have the technology installed no later than June 30, 2022, if not sooner. Small phone companies, the attorneys general explained, “are more often responsible for illegal robocalls, with such providers originating a high and increasing share of illegal robocalls relative to their subscriber base.”
Many robocalls are made on disguised lines, a tactic commonly called “spoofing” – and the STIR-SHAKEN technology would help curb such abuse. By stemming the tide of robocalls, Yost said, Ohio consumers would avoid significant financial losses annually as well as the fear that such scams create.
Yost has made the fight against robocalls a priority during his tenure. He launched an anti-robocall initiative in March 2020, creating a Robocall Enforcement Unit that, through a “Just Don’t Answer!” campaign, encourages Ohioans not to answer or reply to phone numbers they do not recognize.
Ohioans can report unwanted robocalls to the Robocall Enforcement Unit by calling 1-800-282-0515 or visiting OhioProtects.org.
Attorney General Yost is joined in submitting today’s comments by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
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