Bump:
https://www.fcc.gov/about-fcc/fcc-initiatives/fccs-push-combat-robocalls-spoofing
The FCC is working to, as Chairman Pai says, "stop the scourge of illegal robocalls." He has made combatting unlawful robocalls and malicious caller ID spoofing his top consumer protection priority. By proposing and implementing effective policy initiatives and pursuing targeted enforcement actions, the FCC has been taking a bold stand to protect and empower consumers.
A Top Priority
Unwanted calls are far and away the biggest consumer complaint to the FCC with over 200,000 complaints each year—around 60 percent of all the complaints we receive. Some private analyses estimate that U.S. consumers received approximately 2.4 billion robocalls per month in 2016. Unfortunately, advancements in technology make it cheap and easy to make robocalls and to "spoof" caller ID information to hide a caller's true identity.
Chairman Pai and other FCC staff get these calls too. He told NPR's Planet Money recently: "So every now and then, even on my work Blackberry, I'll see a call that seems to be coming . . . from the 202 area code, which is here in Washington—and then our prefix for these Blackberries. And I know for a fact that, you know, it's probably not someone calling from the office. Sometimes, I answer just for the heck of it. And it's—lo and behold, I've won a vacation… ."
We know that these calls are a major concern of millions of Americans, and scam calls in particular can result in very real financial losses and serious consumer frustration. We are therefore committed to using every resource in our tool box and working closely with private, public, and international partners to combat unlawful robocalls and spoofing.
FCC Action
Chairman Pai has launched several important public policy initiatives to help combat unlawful robocalls and malicious caller ID spoofing. The Commission under his leadership has also taken unprecedented enforcement actions to punish those who flout consumer protection laws.