BATON ROUGE, LA –
Today, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and 41 of his fellow state
attorneys general called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take
further action to stop the growing proliferation of illegal robocalls and
spoofing.
In legal comments delivered to the FCC, General Landry
and his colleagues urged the federal government to adopt proposed rules on
enforcement against caller ID spoofing on calls into the United States from
overseas, as well as spoofing in text messaging and alternative voice services.
These provisions are included in the FCC appropriations authorization bill (the
RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018).
“The number of spoofed calls and the consumer financial
losses tied to these scams have increased by nearly 50 percent in recent years,
with Americans receiving almost 18 billion scam robocalls in 2018 and imposter
scams costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars last year,” said
General Landry. “So I hope the FCC will do all they can to stop the barrage of
these aggravating, inconvenient, and invasive robocalls on our State’s people.”
General Landry once again encourages Louisiana consumers
to help avoid falling victim to phone scams with the following tips:
- Hang
up on strange calls from government phone numbers.
- Do
not give out – or confirm – your personal or financial information to
someone who calls.
- Do
not wire money or send money using a reloadable card.
- If
pressured to act immediately, just hang up.
- Report
illegal phone calls to the FCC.
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