Attorney General Raoul Sends Warnings To Phone Companies That Have Allowed Robocalls To Bombard Illinois Residents
CHICAGO - Attorney General Kwame Raoul today warned four voice service providers that they have been transmitting suspected illegal robocall traffic on their networks on behalf of one or more of their customers.
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Raoul is a member of the bi-partisan, 51-attorney general Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, which has been investigating these providers. In the warning letters, the task force informs the providers that it has shared the findings of its investigations with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which will consider appropriate next steps.
“These letters should serve as a warning to others who attempt to profit off robocalls that cost consumers time and money and violate their privacy,” Raoul said. “My office will continue to work closely with the FCC to reduce illegal and intrusive robocalls that plague consumers in Illinois and across the country.”
The letters warned that if these providers continue to transmit robocalls and violate state and federal laws, the task force may pursue further legal actions against these companies and their owners.
The task force sent warning letters to the following companies:
KWK Communications, Inc. The task force’s review of call traffic information compiled by an industry trade group found that calls KWK originated, accepted and/or transmitted onto and across the U.S. telephone network had been flagged as being suspicious or potentially illegal. When this happens, the group sends a traceback notice to the company. KWK received at least 129 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022. The traffic included high volumes of calls associated with IRS and Social Security Administration scams, auto warranty scams, and utilities scams. In just one month in 2022, KWK allegedly routed more than 20,000 calls with illegally spoofed telephone numbers and more than 8.7 million calls made using invalid Caller ID numbers.
Inbound Inc. received at least 63 traceback notices between 2021 and 2022, including many calls that involved imposter scams. Inbound is also estimated to have allegedly routed more than 28.4 million DirecTV and cable discount scam robocalls in a single month in 2022. The FTC previously issued a cease-and-desist demand to Inbound over these scam calls.
AKA Management, Inc. received at least 129 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022, including about calls that were government imposter scams and tech support scams. AKA is also estimated to have allegedly routed about 12.1 million Amazon and Apple imposter robocalls to consumers in a single month in 2022.
CallVox LLC received more than 47 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022 warning of unlawful or suspicious robocalls that it helped move into and through the U.S. telephone network, including thousands of calls to people who were registered on the Do Not Call list and calls placed using illegally spoofed telephone numbers.
The Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force of 51 bipartisan attorneys general investigates and takes legal action against those responsible for routing significant volumes of illegal robocall traffic into and across the United States.
Attorney General Raoul has been a consistent advocate for protections against illegal robocalls. He has been committed to actively investigating and pursuing enforcement actions against entities in the robocall ecosystem that are identified as being responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic routed into and across the country.
Additionally, in 2022, Raoul joined a coalition of 33 attorneys general in filing a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court defending the anti-robocall provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. In August 2019, Raoul joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from all 50 states and Washington D.C. in partnering with 12 phone companies to create a set of principles for telecom companies to fight robocalls. In June 2019, Raoul, in cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission, announced a major crackdown on robocalls that included 94 actions targeting operations around the country that were responsible for more than 1 billion calls. Raoul has also submitted comments to the FCC urging the adoption of various proposed rules aimed at cracking down on unwanted telemarketing calls.
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