BALTIMORE, Md. - Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and a bipartisan coalition of other attorneys general are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to strengthen rules against phone scammers.
Brown encourages the FCC to cut off scammers’ access to real phone numbers so they cannot be utilized. The Maryland Office of the Attorney General says last year Americans received about 30 billion scam robocalls and texts, losing nearly $2 billion.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General says states scammers primarily use other people's phone numbers to make calls seem legitimate, such as using a company name or government agency. However, this became more difficult after state attorneys general and the federal government took action to cut down on unlawful spoofing. Now, the attorney's office says scammers are purchasing legitimate phone numbers and cycling through new numbers.
The bipartisan attorneys generally are asking the FCC to have harsher regulations for phone numbers such as:
- Requiring companies that are authorized to resell numbers to meet stricter rules when assigning numbers.
- Requiring companies to submit regular reports about the sale and use of numbers.
- Requiring people who are applying to access phone numbers to confirm they will not use them to make unlawful robocalls.
- Blocking the sale of numbers that aren’t tied to a calling or texting service.
- Prohibiting number cycling and the buying of multiple numbers used in rotation.
- Restricting the offering of trail numbers.
Attorney General Brown is joined in signing the letter by the attorneys general of 49 other jurisdictions.
