Fight against illegal robocalls

Last week Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced good news in the fight against illegal robocalls. As a result of a bipartisan, public/private coalition of 51 attorneys general, including Missouri, and 12 phone companies, the phone companies have agreed to adopt eight key principles to fight illegal robocalls. This agreement will not only protect phone users from illegal robocalls, but it will also make it easier for attorneys general to investigate and prosecute bad actors.

“Illegal robocalls not only disrupt our lives, but can also lead to Missourians falling victim to scams or fraud. Technology has advanced rapidly, and it’s become increasingly tougher to prevent and catch those responsible for illegal robocalls,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “With this coalition, attorneys general across the country and private companies are taking a proactive approach to fighting back against illegal robocalls. These principles strengthen our ability to pursue bad actors and work to put an end to the harassment of Missourians.”

The principles address the robocall problem in two main ways: prevention and enforcement. Prevention: Phone companies will work to prevent illegal robocalls by:

• Implementing call-blocking technology at the network level at no cost to customers.

• Making available to customers additional, free, easy-to-use call blocking and labeling tools.

• Implementing technology to authenticate that callers are coming from a valid source.

• Monitoring their networks for robocall traffic.

~ Read more in today’s Journal ~