Laws set up to address phone scams must be enforced (Editorial) - masslive.com

At one point in time, if the phone rang in the kitchen and the family was watching TV in the living room, there was little hesitation for someone to cross the room and answer it. The caller at the other end of the line was no doubt familiar. Perhaps a grandparent calling just to say hello. Or a doctor’s office confirming an appointment. Or a neighbor asking if someone had seen their lost pet.

Now, many of us have been conditioned not to take incoming calls seriously. We screen our calls, or don’t even bother answering, thinking “let it just go to voicemail.” And within reason. Many of our telephone numbers have been compromised and available to all kinds of scams and scammers.

After a law was passed and signed into law in 2019 -- the TRACED Act, requiring U.S. phone companies to take action against robocalls -- only around one-third of big carriers and a larger portion of smaller firms have done anything about it.

According to a Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group study, 80% of phone companies are not doing all they can go comply with the law. Facing a Sept. 28 deadline, if telecommunication firms do not act, the FCC must take real steps to fine and penalize those who don’t follow the rules.

There is reportedly $10 billion a year in fraud and losses due to scammer robocalls. Scam calls also cost Americans $3 billion a year in wasted time. It’s time to put the hammer down on companies that are not following the law to protect consumers.

The FCC’s deadline for phone companies to install robocall-detecting technology was June 30. And phone companies have until Sept. 28 to report their robo-blocking status or their calls will be blocked by other companies. Some firms have asked and received extensions.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement, “By not complying with the laws in place, voice service providers are exploiting vulnerable consumers and subjecting them to unwanted calls and potential scams from robocallers.”

Victims of scam calls are usually vulnerable populations like the elderly. Calls can often come across as legitimate and appear familiar. Scammers can also use numbers with specific area codes to make the call appear local.

Last week, the leader of a robocall scam in India that victimized 4,000 people in the U.S. out of more than $10 million was sentenced to 22 years in prison. These calls should never get to our phones. And there is a law in place to stop it from happening. If phone companies don’t comply with the law, quick, strong action should be taken against them. Criminals should not have such easy access to our lives.

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source: https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2021/09/laws-set-up-to-address-phone-scams-must-be-enforced-editorial.html

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