Stopping Robocalls: Maryland Joins Fight Against Scams

BALTIMORE, MD – Robocalls that try to tell consumers everything from they have a prize to claim to a dire warning that they owe the Internal Revenue Service money unless they act fast are being targeted by 29 states, including Maryland. The illegal calls to cell phones are often scammers using "spoofed" calls to hide their identity and trick consumers, says Attorney General Brian Frosh.

On Monday he joined other attorneys general in signing a letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission urging the federal government to adopt rules that would allow telephone providers to block illegal robocalls. Currently, regulations prevent phone companies from blocking many illegal robocalls.

“We urge the FCC to crackdown on these robocalls. They are most often scammers trying to take hard-earned money from unsuspecting consumers,” Frosh saidWednesday in a statement. “While robocalls will never completely disappear – having the FCC take action can prevent potential harm to millions of consumers."

He reminded residents to always be wary of answering calls from numbers they do not recognize and never give out personal information on the phone.

If the new rules are adopted, providers would be allowed to block calls coming from invalid numbers, unallocated numbers, and numbers whose owners have requested they be blocked. For example, phone providers would be able to block a scammer that is using a telephone number that clearly can’t exist because it hasn’t been assigned.

Authorities in Washington, D.C., and Virginia did not sign the letter, WJLA reports.

The letter sounds the alarm about the growing number of telephone scam complaints across the country and supports the FCC’s proposal to remove regulatory roadblocks. As the letter says, “legitimate businesses do not need to use any of these methods to contact consumers.”

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