— information courtesy of the office of N.C. Attorney General
N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson kicked off Phase 2 of Operation Robocall Roundup, expanding the crackdown on illegal robocalls to include four of the largest voice providers in the country. As part of an ongoing investigation, the bipartisan Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, led by Jackson, has directed Inteliquent, Bandwidth, Lumen, and Peerless to stop transmitting suspected illegal robocalls across their networks. The letters to the companies are available here.
In a statement Thursday, Jackson said “Phase 2 of Robocall Roundup is about the larger companies that are knowingly pushing through millions of scam robocalls. “We’re giving them thirty days to clean this up. If they don’t, we’re prepared to use every tool we have. The scale of this abuse is outrageous and we’re not going to tolerate it.”
In August, Jackson sent warning letters to 37 smaller voice providers that were allowing suspected illegal robocalls onto the U.S. telephone network. This next phase targets companies with far larger footprints in the U.S. telecom ecosystem. The four companies are continuing to transmit hundreds of thousands – and in some cases, millions – of suspected illegal robocalls.
In 2022, 51 attorneys general joined forces to create the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, which is led by North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. 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.
Phase 1 of Robocall Roundup included sending warning letters to 37 companies, with positive results:
- 13 companies were removed from the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database, meaning no provider in the United States may accept their call traffic.
- 19 companies stopped appearing in any traceback results, indicating they ceased routing suspected illegal robocalls.
- At least four providers terminated high-risk customer accounts identified as transmitting illegal traffic.
Jackson said the changes demonstrate that enforcement is working. “But to protect the public, the largest carriers must meet the highest standards,” he said.
