(Jackson, Mississippi) Today, Attorney General Fitch announced Phase 2 of Operation Robocall Roundup, a multistate effort by the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force to crack down on robocalls across the country. As part of an ongoing investigation, the bipartisan Task Force has directed Inteliquent, Bandwidth, Lumen, and Peerless to stop transmitting suspected illegal robocalls across their networks.
"Robocalls are not only annoying and disruptive to our everyday lives, but they
are often used to perpetrate scams," said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. "I am proud to join my colleagues as we protect not only Mississippians, but all Americans from these unsolicited calls and hold the companies that facilitate them accountable."
As larger providers, these companies have a heightened responsibility to decline call traffic from known and repeat bad actors. Despite extensive industry traceback notices and years of documented warnings, these four providers continue to route suspected illegal robocalls onto the network and into American homes. For example, the Task Force investigation revealed more than 1 billion imposter Amazon and Apple robocalls and more than 3 billion imposter IRS and Social Security calls moved through these 4 companies’ networks over 3-4 years.
In August, as part of Phase 1, Attorney General Fitch sent warning letters to 37 smaller voice providers that were allowing suspected illegal robocalls onto the U.S. telephone network. As a result, the FCC removed 13 of the companies from its Robocall Mitigation Database, meaning no provider in the United States may accept their call traffic. In addition, 4 of the companies terminated their high-risk customer accounts and 19 are no longer appearing in Task Force traceback results, indicating that they have ceased routing suspected illegal robocalls.
On average, people receive more than 13 robocalls every day. In 2022, Attorney General Fitch and 50 attorneys general from across the country joined forces to create the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force. The Task Force investigates and takes legal action against companies responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic routed into and across the United States.
