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Communications United States

US Government Announces Nationwide Crackdown on Robocallers (cnn.com) 69

Posted by msmash from the fight-continues dept.
The US government announced a nationwide crackdown on illegal robocalls on Tuesday, targeting companies and individuals who have collectively placed over 1 billion unwanted calls for financial schemes and other services, according to the Federal Trade Commission. From a report: The crackdown involves nearly 100 cases, five of which are criminal enforcement actions. They were brought by the FTC, Justice Department, 15 states and a slew of local authorities. It marks the latest effort by regulators to battle back the tide of unwanted and illegal calls from telemarketers and scammers. Some of those targeted by the action were a major source of robocalls. Derek Jason Bartoli, a Florida man who allegedly developed, sold and used a form of software that allows millions of calls to be placed in quick succession, was responsible for 57 million calls to US phone numbers over six months in 2017, according to a federal complaint. [...] The joint action includes the states of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.
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US Government Announces Nationwide Crackdown on Robocallers More

US Government Announces Nationwide Crackdown on Robocallers

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  • Interesting Federal End-Run (Score:4, Interesting)

    by damn_registrars ( 1103043 ) <damn.registrars@gmail.com> on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @04:27PM (#58823820) Homepage Journal
    People were constantly hoping that FCC (Communications Commission) chair Ajit Pai would do something about this. Now we see the FTC (Trade Commission) is doing something instead. I guess the FCC was too busy rallying the troops to approve as many telecom mergers as possible and couldn't be bothered with doing their jobs?

    • Re:Interesting Federal End-Run (Score:5, Funny)

      by DickBreath ( 207180 ) on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @04:59PM (#58823980) Homepage
      The FCC will hire a company to automatically call each and every single American to inform and assure them that the FCC is working hard to end robo calls.

      Hopefully they will call several times per month to give us progress updates.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      People were constantly hoping that FCC (Communications Commission) chair Ajit Pai would do something about this. Now we see the FTC (Trade Commission) is doing something instead.

      Both the FCC and the FTC have been involved for years, but I've been waiting for the Justice Department to get involved. The FCC and FTC can only do civil penalties (aka give us part of your profit and promise to sin no more). The Justice Department can do criminal enforcement. Which is about time, given that these calls aren't just annoying, they are defrauding people dumb enough to answer them.

    • Ajit Pai does what his boss tells him to do.

      The FTC is doing garbage collection.

      Still too easy to spoof numbers. Can you whitelist your contacts yet? If not, why not?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shaitan ( 22585 )

        "Can you whitelist your contacts yet? If not, why not?"

        This

        • Yeah, maybe that, but there is little demand, so it doesn't get much press.

          For some reason the old charade seems more desirable.

          So, for the interested parties, it's free money.

    • Illegal calls from telemarketers and scammers are an FTC issue. The FCC shouldn't be regulating content of a phone call. Just because it takes place using "communications" doesn't mean the communications regulators are the right solution.

      • Just because it takes place using "communications" doesn't mean the communications regulators are the right solution.

        The fact that these telemarketers use forged caller-id makes it an FCC issue.

        • The fact that these telemarketers use forged caller-id makes it an FCC issue.

          No, trying to adopt a fraudulent identity for purposes of profit makes it an FTC issue. They're using the systems that are in place for other, legitimate users, and it is only the content of the call that makes the id fraud.

          Why are you so upset that the FTC is trying to do something? Why isn't that good thing?

          • Why are you so upset that the FTC is trying to do something? Why isn't that good thing?

            I'm not upset.

            It's an issue for both the FCC and FTC. Is that such a difficult concept?

            • It's an issue for both the FCC and FTC. Is that such a difficult concept?

              Except consumer fraud is an issue for the FTC, not the FCC. That's why it's difficult to think the FCC is at fault.

              • Apparently, it was a difficult concept. Oh, well.

                • Yes, apparently the issue of the correct federal agency to deal with consumer fraud is a difficult concept. Almost as difficult as figuring out why the fact that some federal agency is trying to do something is a problem that merits complaints here.

          • Hey, moron.

            Who do you think will show up at my door if I commit fraud and start broadcasting with another station's ID/logo/callsign?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Shaitan ( 22585 )

              Legally speaking that isn't fraud just a violation of FCC regulations. Only a handful of specific deceptions are fraud.

            • Hey, moron.

              Great way to start a discussion.

              Who do you think will show up at my door if I commit fraud and start broadcasting with another station's ID/logo/callsign?

              Violation of FCC regulations by broadcasting without an FCC license is an FCC issue, and you will get a NAL from the FCC and you will have to deal with them. Any fraudulent content of your broadcasts will be dealt with by local, state, or federal law enforcement. If the legal holder of the identity you are stealing cares to deal with you for that, it will most likely be in a US civil court for trademark violation, where neither the FCC nor the FTC will be involved.

              It is not

      • Illegal calls from telemarketers and scammers are an FTC issue.

        Enabling of these calls by the telecom companies is an FCC issue.

        Cracking down on the telemarketers will accomplish little, since most of them are outside American jurisdiction.

        We need to crack down on the telecoms with a ban on anonymous spoofing. That is an FCC issue.

        • Enabling of these calls by the telecom companies is an FCC issue.

          And enabling of those calls is part of a system that is intended to allow that ability -- just not for fraud. Fraud makes it FTC.

          Cracking down on the telemarketers will accomplish little, since most of them are outside American jurisdiction.

          Yep.

          We need to crack down on the telecoms with a ban on anonymous spoofing. That is an FCC issue.

          You just said that the scammers are outside the US. That means they originate in non-US telecoms. If the FTC can't deal with non-US scammers because they are outside the US, how do you expect the FCC to deal with non-US telecoms?

          • how do you expect the FCC to deal with non-US telecoms?

            I don't. I expect them to deal with the US telecoms that make our phones ring with spoofed calls.

            • I don't. I expect them to deal with the US telecoms that make our phones ring with spoofed calls.

              The US telecoms are making your phone ring because someone is calling you. The data they show you about the source of the call comes from the originating telecom, which the FCC cannot control.

              Now, you could demand that every US telecom refuse to put through any call from a non-US telecom that doesn't show a non-US originating number, but then the legitimate support call centers that have been outsourced to, e.g., India would not be able to show you the US number that you would want to call them at, or the

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
        well spooefed numbers seems mor like a communications issue than a trade issue, well the spoofed number issue could be solved once the call hits the first co at the originating telco, ie call coming from a number not (or from a number authorised by third party ie outsourcing of support etc (ofc the numbérs authoriced by that party has to be confirmed with the telco serving thar party)) belonging to this costumers trunk = call disconnected. Ok this does not solve the robo call problem bet at least is

        • well spooefed numbers seems mor like a communications issue than a trade issue,

          Why are they spoofing the number? To commit fraud in some transaction. "We're the IRS, you need to buy gift cards to pay us..." "Your automobile warranty is expired, you need to pay for extended warranty..." "Hi Gramma, it's Jimmy, I'm in a Mexican jail, can you send money to get me out..." "We're Microsoft and we've detected an irregularity in your network use ..."

          Fraudulent transactions are a trade issue, not an FCC issue. If someone is using a "spoofed" number who is a legitimate user of that number (i

  • I have important information about your credit cards!

  • But I'm not going to consider this a victory until this guy is in the slammer [youtu.be].

  • Either PMITA federal prison, or just (Score:3)

    by bobstreo ( 1320787 ) on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @04:48PM (#58823918)

    the death penalty would probably reduce this practice quickly.

  • Carpet Cleaning (Score:3)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @04:48PM (#58823922) Homepage Journal

    "Hi, this is Ray your local carpet cleaner..." (calling from forged caller ID number from the same area code and prefix)

    Please find and exterminate Ray. He's the worst and most persistent one so far.

    • Re: Carpet Cleaning (Score:4, Informative)

      by hey! ( 33014 ) on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @07:08PM (#58824702) Homepage Journal

      Last March my daughter suddenly got critically ill. I flew out to Chicago and spent about a month at her bedside in the ICU. About a week into that ordeal, I began to receive medical device spam calls. Either Google or Lyft noticed I was making a lot of trips to the hospital, and they sold it to someone. Within a day my phone was ringing all day long. I had to install a spam blocker and block all calls that weren't in my contact list, although that complicated communicating with doctors.

      Having your phone blow up with spam is not what you need when you are dealing with a medical crisis.

  • Yawn (Score:5, Insightful)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @04:50PM (#58823930)

    >"The crackdown involves nearly 100 cases, five of which are criminal enforcement actions"

    Yawn. Drop in the "lip service" bucket to me. I guess we shall see, but I am not hopeful. Need:

    1) Criminal penalties, not civil.
    2) Easy reporting by consumers/victims.
    3) No more fake caller ID.
    4) No loopholes for "government" or "political" calls or anything else.
    5) No more "opt-out" schemes, should be opt-in to any automated call services, with instant "opt-out" later, during call.

    If you WANT any automated calls (some can be useful), they need to be affirmative opt-in ONLY. I consider anything else as spam. Just giving your number to a company should never establish an automatic "OK" to be on some call list.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • No-one wants a war with Iran.

    But if you are going to deploy the hacking brigade, why not unleash hell on telemarketers? Bring down systems, freeze assets, make them scatter like roaches.

    Talk about bi-partisan support!!

    • No-one wants a war with Iran.

      The neocons, the Trotskyites in the CIA, and the military industrial complex do. That's most of the DC power base.

      And the population won't say "boo" and continue to pay the taxes assessed on them, so why not?

  • Bring back the death penalty (Score:3)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @04:52PM (#58823942) Journal

    Good luck on cracking down of these fuckers, most of them are calling from Mumbai or Jakarta or wherever.

    Bring back the death penalty and a SEAL team of hunter killer operators and let them go to work. That's the only way this will ever be put in check.

    I know it sounds harsh, but if I ever got my hands around the neck of "Rachel from Card Services" I'd choke the life outta that bitch.

    • The court cases are directed at... Who exactly?

      Foreign entities, outside the jurisdiction of the US?

      Instead, target all the US phone companies for ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN!

  • Good luck with that! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by duke_cheetah2003 ( 862933 ) on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @05:00PM (#58823990) Homepage

    Unless the US Government is planning on invading, sanctioning, or otherwise doing unpleasant things to several third world countries (I'm looking at you India), this is nothing but hot politician air. They can't do anything. They know they can't. We know they can't.

    There is nothing we can do, as long as foreign counties can spoof the ANS with impunity.

    You'd have better luck playing whack-a-mole. I'm not saying we just turn a blind eye to this crap, but there is literally nothing short of punishing an entire country for this behavior we could do. And that's not going to happen.

    Stick to real solutions. Deploy the AI's to talk to these phone scammers and waste their time. https://jollyrogertelephone.co... [jollyrogertelephone.com] probably has more effect that US Government ever could. Only by making this activity unprofitable will it ever cease. Trying to foil them in any other way is a complete waste of time.

    A secondary method of taking a real fight to the telemarketers is supporting YouTubers who spend their time with these scammers, so the rest of us don't have to. Kitboga and others, they need your support. Give 'em a buck or two.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Invasions are not necessary, but sanctions would likely have the intended effect. Where is President Trump and his 25% tariff on all Indian goods and services when we need him? We could also threaten to hit India with the same banking sanctions that are at this very moment crushing Iran. You will see how quickly the Indian government makes these robocalls stop when heavy duty penalties like that are on the table.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        The Indians will just shut down all of our corporate and other IT systems if anybody tries something effective. After all, they designed them and operate them using H1-B's.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Unless the US Government is planning on invading, sanctioning, or otherwise doing unpleasant things to several third world countries (I'm looking at you India), this is nothing but hot politician air. They can't do anything. They know they can't. We know they can't.

      There is nothing we can do, as long as foreign counties can spoof the ANS with impunity.

      You'd have better luck playing whack-a-mole. I'm not saying we just turn a blind eye to this crap, but there is literally nothing short of punishing an entire

  • There is absolutely no motivation for the federal government to do anything about this. ANYTHING. Quite the opposite in fact. Robocallers make money for the carriers, and there are VERY industry-friendly people in control right now. To this administration, individual plebian annoyances matters slightly less than global warming. Whatever this is, it's window dressing.

  • After it rings I wait and see if there is a message and if it someone I know I return the call.

  • I've noticed that one of the commoner "predictive dialing" tools (i.e. the ones that save human employee salaries by calling people first, then connecting a salesman {or hanging up if none are available} if somebody answers) makes a characteristic "boonk" sound as it's connecting the human.

    Does anybody happen to know the name of the particular brand of hardware or software tool which does that?

    (I suspect it's a product, rather than some company's one-off, because it's present on a lot of very diverse promot

  • "illegal calls from telemarketers and scammers. " ...and politicians, but I guess they'll create an exception for themselves, as always.

  • The Fort Lauderdale area alone has thousands upon thousands of phone sales room. Prosecuting only a handful of cases each year amounts to a signal for the fraudsters to go for the gold. If we tried to imprison all owners and managers and a few of the worst salesman we would need to establish an unimaginable, huge prison system to house several million phone sales people. Worse yet we would be shocked to find out who owns these phone rooms. a bunch of government officials would surely be implicated.
  • The phone companies are largely to blame. Itâ(TM)s not that difficult to set up a policy forbidding domestic calls from presenting a callback number that doesnâ(TM)t belong to the same company that owns the line from which a call is placed. Attempting to violate it should kill your lines instantly. Not that it made a lick of sense for clients to be allowed to specify an arbitrary caller id in the first place! Foreign networks should be required to have the same basic guarantees as part of peer

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