AG Aaron M. Frey Joins Multistate Robocall Roundup

Today, Attorney General Aaron M. Frey launched Operation Robocall Roundup, a multistate effort by the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force to crack down on robocalls across the country.  Attorney General Frey and 50 bipartisan attorneys general are sending warning letters to 37 voice-providers demanding they act now to stop illegal robocalls being routed through their networks.

“Robocalls are not just muisance, they are a primary mehod for scammers to reach unwittig victims” said AG Frey.  “While the scammers are often out of reach of the American legal system, the companies passing these calls through are not.  This is our first step in alerting these businesses that we will be holding them accountable for their complicity in these robocalls unless they take action to prevent would-be scammers from using their networks.”

These providers have not complied with Federal Communications Commissio (FCC) rules about responding to government traceback requests, have not registered in the FCC’s Robocalal Mitigation Databases or have not filed a plan that describes how they will reduce illegal robocalls on their network.  By disregarding these simple rules, these companies are allowing robocallers onto their phone networks and then passing their calls are to other downstream providers until they reach the phones of Maine people.

The task force is also sending letters to 99 downstream providers that accept call traffic from the 37 companies, so that they know they are doing business with bad actors that are not willing to follow the rules that apply to everyone equally.

The FCC is also taking a close look at several of these companies.  It announced yesterday that it will be removing seven of these providers from the Robocall Mitigation Database, which means that other providers will no longer be allowed to accept and route any calls from their networks.