Attorney General Ashley Moody today urged the United States Senate to enact the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act. The Act is designed to reduce the number of illegal robocalls and fight spoofing—the practice of using technology to disguise a caller’s phone number. A coalition of 54 attorneys general today sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation supporting the TRACED Act.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Floridians and people around the country are receiving billions of robocalls every year. Often these robocalls are pitching phony products, sham services or spurious sweepstakes in an effort to trick people into parting with their money. While we continue to fight illegal robocalls on multiple fronts, we need Congress to pass the TRACED Act to help bolster our efforts to better protect consumers in Florida and nationwide.”
The attorneys general stress in the letter that the TRACED Act enables states, federal regulators and telecom providers to take steps in combating illegal robocalls. The legislation will require voice service providers to participate in a call authentication framework to help block unwanted calls. In addition, the TRACED Act will create an interagency working group to take additional actions to reduce robocalls and hold telemarketers and robocallers accountable. The Act is sponsored by senators John Thune and Ed Markey.
More than 48 billion robocalls were made in 2018. Robocalls remain the number one source of consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, resulting in millions in consumer losses every year. The state attorneys general work to protect consumers in their states from being harassed and scammed by robocalls.
Attorney General Moody is joined in sending the letter by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Guam, 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, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
To view a copy of the letter, click here.
