TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport is co-leading a bipartisan coalition of 49 attorneys general urging the Federal Communications Commission to strengthen regulations aimed at preventing scammers from obtaining legitimate telephone numbers used to make illegal robocalls.
The coalition submitted comments to the FCC supporting proposed rules that would make it more difficult for scammers to access and misuse legitimate phone numbers, a tactic officials say has become increasingly common as efforts to combat caller ID spoofing have expanded.
“Robocalls aren’t just annoying and illegal. They expose New Jerseyans to rampant scams and fraud that threaten their life’s savings,” said Attorney General Davenport. “While states like New Jersey will continue to enforce the law to hold scammers accountable, preventing unwanted robocalls in the first place requires meaningful action from the FCC. The FCC must take immediate action to stop robocalls in their tracks.”
According to the coalition, Americans received approximately 29.6 billion scam robocalls and text messages last year and lost nearly $2 billion to related scams.
Officials said scammers previously relied heavily on illegally spoofing legitimate phone numbers to disguise the origin of calls. After federal and state enforcement actions reduced spoofing, many scammers began purchasing legitimate phone numbers and rapidly cycling through them to evade spam detection systems.
The attorneys general cited a North Carolina case in which scammers allegedly made more than 17.3 million calls in a single day through one phone company while rarely using the same number more than twice.
The coalition is asking the FCC to adopt several new safeguards, including:
- Requiring companies authorized to purchase and resell North American telephone numbers to meet stronger certification standards and disclose how numbers are assigned.
- Requiring regular reporting on the sale and use of telephone numbers to help law enforcement trace illegal robocalls and hold companies accountable.
- Requiring applicants seeking access to phone numbers to certify they will not use them for illegal robocalls.
- Prohibiting the sale of phone numbers to entities not affiliated with legitimate calling or texting services.
- Banning the practice of “number cycling,” in which scammers rotate through large numbers of phone numbers to avoid spam detection.
- Restricting the availability of trial telephone numbers that scammers can exploit.
Davenport is co-leading the effort with the attorneys general of North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The letter is also supported by the attorneys general of 45 other states and territories, including the District of Columbia and American Samoa.
