AG Kaul Asks FCC to Put in Place Anti-Robotext Protections

MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul today joined comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) supporting its proposal to help cut down on unwanted text messages by requiring mobile wireless providers to block texts from invalid, unassigned, or unused numbers, and from numbers on a Do Not Originate list.

“Like robocalls, robotexts are not only annoying but also a tool used by scammers,” said Attorney General Josh Kaul. “The FCC’s proposal will help reduce the number of robotexts that folks receive and protect consumers.”

Attorneys general work to protect consumers in their states and have long been at the forefront of fighting to reduce the number of robocalls that plague Americans. But scammers are shifting to using robotexts to run the same scams. Just like spam calls, spam texts are an irritation and can result in people losing millions through phishing texts, imposter scams, and links containing ransomware. In 2021, the FCC received more than 15,000 consumer complaints about unwanted texts and, in 2020, scammers stole more than $86 million through frauds perpetrated via scam text messages.

The coalition of 51 attorneys general support the FCC’s proposal to require mobile wireless providers to block unlawful text messages at the network level if they originate from fraudulent numbers. Further, the attorneys general are asking the FCC to continue pushing the wireless industry to develop call authentication technology for text messages so people can know if the texts they receive are from spoofed numbers and law enforcement can investigate where these texts are coming from.

The coalition of attorneys general includes attorneys general from all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

A copy of the letter is available here.

View the press release here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.