Sen. Menendez Tries To Announce Robocall Crackdown, Gets Robocall

NEWARK, NJ — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez was trying to make a point about the duty of phone companies to help stop annoying robocalls during a press conference in Newark on Friday. Then he was interrupted by a phone call.

“Hello?” Menendez questioned.

“This is friendly reminder that your vehicle’s factory warranty may have expired,” a mechanical voice on the other end of the line said.

If you’re one of the estimated 135 million people in New Jersey who get robocalls every month, you may know how the rest of the spiel goes.

On April 12, the seemingly too-coincidental-to-be-true call rammed home the senator’s message: people need tougher laws and better consumer protections from harassing robocalls. According to YouMail's robocall index, a record 5.2 billion robocalls were placed across the U.S. in January 2019, many with the goal of duping people into giving up their bank or credit card information.

“These robocallers care about one thing… ripping you off,” Menendez said. “And the American people are sick and tired of it.”

According to Menendez, scam artists are using sophisticated spoofing technology to hide who they are and flout the law to get around the federal Do Not Call Registry.

“It’s happened to all of us,” the senator said. “What we need are tougher laws to go after the scam artists who don’t play by the rules in the first place, and better protections for consumers constantly bombarded by these calls.”

• See related article: Here Are New Jersey's Most Prolific Robocallers

On Friday, several Garden State residents joined Menendez at his office in Newark to share their personal stories of being harassed by unwanted calls. The fed-up New Jerseyans included:

• Newark small business owner Frank Ambrosio (watch video here)
• Lawrence Frenkel, a 75-year-old retired professor of pediatrics from Somerset (watch video here)
• Kit Turner, an Air Force veteran from Irvington who runs a nonprofit that helps homeless veterans (watch video here)

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

During his Friday press conference, Menendez pushed for the passage of the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, which unanimously passed the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this month.

The proposed federal law, S-151, has gained bipartisan support from 44 Senate Republicans and Democrats, Menendez said.

According to Menendez, the bill would:

• Broaden the authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call who intentionally flout telemarketing restrictions
• Extends the window for the FCC to catch and take civil enforcement action against intentional violations from one to three years after a robocall is placed
• Brings together the, FCC, FTC, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFBP), Departments of Justice, Commerce, State, and Homeland Security, and other relevant federal agencies, as well as state attorneys general and other non-federal entities, to identify and report to Congress on improving deterrence and criminal prosecution at the federal and state level of robocall scams
• Requires providers of voice services to adopt call authentication technologies, enabling a telephone carrier to verify that incoming calls are legitimate before they reach consumers’ phones
• Directs the FCC to initiate a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers using unauthenticated numbers

Watch video footage from Friday’s press conference in Newark below.

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page here. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com