2024-47 AG NEWS RELEASE – ATTORNEY GENERAL LOPEZ CALLS ON THE FCC TO STRENGTHEN VETTING PROCESS TO BLOCK ROBOCALLERS

STATE OF HAWAIʻI

KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

KA ʻOIHANA O KA LOIO KUHINA

JOSH GREEN, M.D.
GOVERNOR

KE KIAʻĀINA

ANNE LOPEZ

ATTORNEY GENERAL

LOIO KUHINA

News Release 2024-47

ATTORNEY GENERAL LOPEZ CALLS ON THE FCC TO STRENGTHEN VETTING PROCESS TO BLOCK ROBOCALLERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 15, 2024

HONOLULU -Attorney General Anne Lopez and a bipartisan coalition of 46 attorneys general is calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to improve its Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD) and close what has effectively been an unmonitored loophole that bad actors exploit to access the U.S. telephone network.

"While we work to identify and reduce the amount of illegal robocalls that plague everyone, scammers continue to find new ways to bombard people with these illegal calls and texts," said Attorney General Lopez. "I fully support this effort to strengthen the Robocall Mitigation Database and prevent more harmful call traffic from even entering the telephone network in the first place."

Providers must register on the FCC's database to operate as a voice service provider in the United States. However, since it went live in 2021, the database has done little to prevent bad actors from obtaining legitimate registrations to send illegal robocalls through the U.S. telephone network. Companies have submitted non-vetted information and voice service providers have faced no real consequences for filing inaccurate, false, misleading, or otherwise incomplete information.

The coalition of attorneys general is calling on the FCC to strengthen the database, so providers understand what information they need to submit and have deadlines to submit this information, validate the data providers submit to flag inaccurate or misleading data, penalize providers for submitting false or inadequate information by preventing them from getting authorization to operate, and blocking non-compliant providers. If adopted, the proposed changes would make it harder for bad actors to gain access to the entire U.S. telephone network and would stop more illegal robocalls from reaching people in the United States.

Attorney General Lopez is a member of the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, which is committed to actively investigating and pursuing enforcement actions against entities in the robocall ecosystem that are identified as being responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic routed into and across the country.

Here are some tips to consider when determining whether calls and texts that may be scams:

• Be wary of callers posing as law enforcement or government agencies, who specifically ask you to pay by gift card, money sharing app, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. The Department of the Attorney General, law enforcement and other government agencies will not call to solicit money or threaten arrest.
• Never give out personal identifying information such as account numbers, social security numbers or birthdates in response to unexpected calls.
• If you suspect fraudulent activity, immediately hang up and call the phone number on your account statement or government agency website to verify the authenticity.

If you believe you received an illegal call or text, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at www.donotcall.gov, and register your phone number with the FTC's Do Not Call Registry. You can also report a consumer complaint with the Hawaiʻi Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.The Federal Communications Commission has tips, FAQs and other resources for identifying unwanted calls and texts.

Attorney General Lopez is joined in sending this letter by the Attorneys General of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.

A copy of the letter is available here.

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Media contact(s):

Dave Day

Special Assistant to the Attorney General

Office: 808-586-1284

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://ag.hawaii.gov

Toni Schwartz
Public Information Officer
Hawai'i Department of the Attorney General
Office: 808-586-1252Cell: 808-379-9249 Email: [email protected]

Web: http://ag.hawaii.gov

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