Press Release

Taylor, Other AGs Urge FCC to Take Additional Action on Robocalls

January 10, 2022

(Anchorage, AK) – Attorney General Treg Taylor and a bipartisan group of his counterparts urged the Federal Communications Commission to do more to protect American consumers from the scourge of illegal robocalls by international callers.

In comments to the FCC, Attorney General Taylor and other state attorneys general asked the commission to require gateway providers – those companies that allow international calls into the United States – to implement measures to slow the influx of foreign robocalls. The FCC should require gateway providers to put in place STIR/SHAKEN, a caller ID authentication technology that helps prevent spoof calls, the attorneys general said.

This request comes just a few weeks after Attorney General Taylor and others successfully helped persuade the FCC to shorten by a year the deadline for certain telephone companies to implement STIR/SHAKEN.

“Robocalls are at best an annoyance and at worst a ruse used to scam hard-working consumers out of their money,” Attorney General Taylor said, noting that Americans lost a total of $520 million through robocall scams in 2020. “Fortunately, technology has been developed that helps prevent some of these calls, and I will continue to work to make sure federal regulators use every tool possible to eliminate robocalling.”

If implemented by gateway providers, STIR/SHAKEN would help to prevent caller ID “spoofing,” using technology to make a call appear to be from another number.

Attorney General Taylor and his counterparts are also asking the FCC to require these gateway providers to take additional measures to reduce robocalls, including:

• Responding to requests from law enforcement, state attorneys general, or the FCC to trace back calls within 24 hours.
• Blocking calls when providers are aware of an illegal or likely fraudulent caller.
• Blocking calls that originate from numbers that are on a “do not originate” list – such as government phone numbers that are for incoming calls only.
• Ensuring that foreign telephone companies they partner with are ensuring that calls are being made from legitimate numbers.

The attorneys general are also encouraging the FCC to require all phone companies to block calls from a gateway provider if it fails to meet these requirements.

A total of 51 attorneys general joined in sending the comment letter to the FCC.

• NAAG Comments to the FCC - PDF(603KB)

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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.