HARRISBURG, Pa. — Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Tuesday that Pennsylvania has joined an Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force.
The force consists of 50 attorneys general, who investigate and take legal action against telecommunications companies responsible for bringing foreign robocalls into the U.S.
In short, the nationwide Task Force has one goal: to cut down on illegal robocalls.
“Robocall scammers are relentless,” said Shapiro, who is running for governor in November as a Democrat. “The best way for us to fight back against them is by working together to track their behavior across the country."
The Task Force has issued 20 civil investigative demands to 20 gateway providers that are allegedly responsible for the majority of foreign robocalls. Gateway providers that bring foreign traffic into the U.S. telephone network have a responsibility to ensure the traffic is legal, but these providers are allegedly not taking property action to stop robocall traffic.
In many cases, these companies have allegedly turned a blind eye to the issue for steady revenue, according to the Anti-Robocall Ligation Task Force.
The Task Force will focus specifically on the bad actors throughout the telecommunications industry, to help reduce the number of robocalls that Pennsylvanians receive.
According to the National Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center, over 33 million scam robocalls are made to Americans every day. These scam calls include Social Security Administration fraud against seniors, Amazon scams against consumers, and many other targeted scams.
An estimated $29.8 billion was stolen through scam calls in 2021.
The Task Force emphasized a focus on shutting down the providers that profit from this illegal scam traffic and refuse to take steps to otherwise mitigate these scam calls.
Here are some tips that better protect citizens from robocall scammers:
- Be wary of callers who specifically ask you to pay by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency.
- Look out for prerecorded calls from imposters posing as government agencies.
- If you suspect fraudulent activity, immediately hang-up and do not provide any personal information.
Pennsylvanians are encouraged to report all suspicious robocalls to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection by visiting OAG’s website, emailing scams@attorneygeneral.gov, or calling 1-800-441-2555.
