Robocalls and Phone Scams Are Exploding. What to Do?

If it seems as though you’re getting more robocalls and phone scams these days, you’re not alone. They’re skyrocketing, and regulators have noticed.

The calls

• The number of robocalls Americans receive has doubled in the last year. These calls are not only annoying, but also a tool criminals use to gain access to people’s finances.
• Scam callers are also using increasingly sophisticated techniques, such as “spoofing” technology that makes it appear as though a local number or even a friend or family member is calling you.

The responses

• Both the House and Senate have held hearings on the issue within the last month, and each has either passed or introduced legislation designed to stifle abuses.
• The Federal Trade Commission filed a formal complaint this week against the people behind companies that allegedly facilitated and engaged in: illegal robocalls, calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry, calls with spoofed caller IDs, and abandoned calls (in which callers hung up on consumers who answered).
• The Federal Communications Commission is similarly seeking a $120 million fine from a particularly prolific scam caller from Miami.
• In March, an appeals court judge overturned a portion of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, on the grounds that it defined automated dialers too broadly. The number of calls spiked after that ruling, jumping from 98 million a day in February to around 102 million per day in March.

What do you think?

Should regulators tighten restrictions on robocallers and the technologies that enable them? Should the solution come from the private sector? Hit Take Action, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: Philippe Put)