NC Attorney General pushes for further federal crackdown on illegal robocalls

Attorneys general from North Carolina and 47 other states are pushing for further efforts from the federal government to crack down on illegal robocalls. 

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson this week called on the Federal Communications Commission to eliminate a so-called front end loophole that he says allows scammers to obtain unused and legitimate phone numbers from brokers. 

"If you're a scammer, you go to these companies and you buy a million unused phone numbers so that they can cycle through and get around all of your attempts to block the spam calls," Jackson said.

The North Carolina Department of Justice says the unused numbers are behind billions of scam calls each year and account for approximately $2 billion in losses. 

In March, the FCC adopted an item that the agency says proposes an expansion of certification requirements for telephone numbering services.

"...(This) proposal focuses on stopping bad actors before a call even originates by tightening how numbers are obtained and used, in order to strengthen the Commission’s robocall enforcement efforts," an FCC spokesperson wrote in an email to WRAL.

This latest call from the coalition of attorneys general asks the agency to go even further. They want stricter certification standards for companies that buy and sell phone numbers, according to NCDOJ press release.

Among the requests are requirements that people and entities applying to access phone numbers confirm that they won't use them for illegal robocalls. Other requests call for companies to block the sale of phone numbers to entities that are not tied to a calling or texting service. 

"We welcome this input from state leaders," the FCC spokesperson said. 

Jackson cited a recent case that he says resulted in scammers making more than 17 million calls in a day. 

NumberBarn is one of the companies that the NCDOJ says allows customers to obtain unused phone numbers. 

"Anything that improves accountability and makes it harder for scammers to obtain and misuse legitimate phone numbers is a positive step toward rebuilding consumer trust," a NumberBarn representative told WRAL in a statement. 

Jackson encourages phone users to report robocalls to the NCDOJ website. 

North Carolina is a co-leader of the nationwide effort to crack down on robocalls.