March 6, 2019
Carson City, NV – Attorney General Aaron D. Ford urged the U.S. Senate to enact the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, legislation to curb illegal robocalls and spoofing. AG Ford, along with a coalition of 53 other attorneys general, sent a letter to the U. S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation supporting the TRACED Act.
“Scammers use robocalling technology to quickly and easily make millions of calls per day, resulting in consumers losing both money and time,” said AG Ford. “The TRACED Act is the first step to give regulators stronger tools to protect consumers from illegal calls.”
In their letter, the attorneys general stress that the TRACED Act enables states, federal regulators and telecom providers to take steps to combat these illegal calls. The legislation will require voice service providers to participate in a call authentication framework to help block unwanted calls and creates an interagency working group to take additional actions to reduce robocalls and hold telemarketers and robocallers accountable.
More than 48 billion robocalls were made in 2018, making them the number one source of consumer complaints to the FTC and the FCC and resulting in millions in consumer losses. The state attorneys general work to enforce do-not-call laws and protect consumers in their states from being harassed and scammed by robocalls.
AG Ford is joined in sending this letter by the Attorneys General of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. The coalition was led by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. The legislation is sponsored by Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and Ed Markey of Massachusetts.
A copy of the letter can be found HERE.
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