FCC Proposes New Rules Regarding Robo Calls

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday proposed new rules that would allow phone companies to target and block robo-calls coming from what appear to be illegitimate or unassigned phone numbers.

According to The Washington Post ,the rules could help cut down on the roughly 2.4 billion automated calls that go out each month — many of them fraudulent, according to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

“Robo-calls are the No. 1 consumer complaint to the FCC from members of the American public,” he said, vowing to halt people who, in some cases, pretend to be tax officials demanding payments from consumers, or, in other cases, ask leading questions that prompt consumers to give up personal information as part of an identity theft scam.

More than 1 in 10 U.S. adults has been a victim to phone scams, said FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, citing a December study by the call-blocking company CPR Call Blocker.

“Millions of Americans are harassed by unscrupulous telemarketers and others who often disguise their caller identification information to circumvent 'do not call' lists and anti-robocall tools,” said Verizon in a statement. “It needs to stop.”

The public will now have an opportunity to submit feedback on the proposal, which could be finalized later this year.