State of California Department of Justice
Rob Bonta
Attorney General
Attorney General
Continues waging campaign to protect Californians, Americans, from annoying, financially ruinous robocalls
OAKLAND — California Attorney General Bonta today announced launching Operation Robocall Roundup, a multistate, bipartisan effort by the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force to crack down on robocalls around the country. As part of the operation, Attorney General Bonta joins a coalition of 51 attorneys general in sending warning letters to 37 voice service providers, demanding they immediately take action to stop illegal robocalls from being routed through their networks.
“Robocalls are annoying, can facilitate scams that result in real financial losses for Californians, and can unintentionally cut people off from communication from their loved ones for fear of robocalls. This is a nationwide problem, and we need nationwide solutions,” said Attorney General Bonta. “I am proud to steadfastly continue in this national, bipartisan effort to protect consumers from unwanted robocalls by launching Operation Robocall Roundup. My office is committed to protecting Californians from the risk of financial harm by going after companies who enable illegal robocalls on their telecom networks.”
The providers targeted in today’s operation have failed to comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules about responding to government traceback requests, failed to register in the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database, or have not filed a plan that describes how they will reduce illegal robocalls on their network. By disregarding rules meant to protect consumers, these companies have allowed robocalls onto their phone networks and have then passed these calls on to other downstream providers until they reach the phones of Californians. The Task Force will also send these letters to over 99 downstream providers that accept call traffic from the 37 companies, so that they understand they’re doing business with companies that are not willing to follow the rules.
Additionally, the FCC is taking a close look at several of these companies and announced its removal of seven of these providers from the Robocall Mitigation Database, which means that other providers will no longer be allowed to accept and route any calls from their networks.
The voice service providers receiving warning letters as part of Operation Robocall Roundup include:
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 Bonta is committed to enforcing consumer protections in the state of California and speaking out for consumer protections nationwide, including working to a stop to illegal robocalls. In April, Attorney General Bonta put nine companies on notice for submitting illegal robocall traffic. And in March, he submitted an amicus brief in support of a FCC rule which would have limited unwanted robocalls and robotexts by closing a loophole that bad-acting lead generators try to use to trick a consumer into “consenting” to calls from potentially thousands of companies.
As part of the effort to combat illegal robocall traffic Attorney General Bonta has:
Additionally, the California Department of Justice is involved in ongoing litigation against Avid Telecom for allegedly initiating and facilitating billions of unlawful robocalls that included Social Security Administration scams, Medicare scams, and employment scams.
Copies of the letters can be found here.