Attorney General Kaul Sends Warnings to Phone Companies that Have Allowed Robocalls to Bombard Wisconsinites

MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul and a bipartisan Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force Tuesday warned four voice service providers that they have been transmitting suspected illegal robocall traffic on their networks on behalf of one or more of their customers.

“Voice service providers have an important role to play in reducing robocalls,” said Attorney General Kaul. “Those companies must ensure that they’re taking the steps necessary to stop consumers from receiving a large volume of illegal robocalls.”

Attorney General Kaul is a member of the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, composed of 51 attorneys general. In the warning letters, the task force informs the providers that it has shared the findings of its investigations with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which will consider appropriate next steps.

The task force sent warning letters to the following companies:

KWK Communications, Inc.: KWK Communications received at least 129 traceback notices from the industry traceback group between 2020 and 2022, which included high volumes of calls associated with IRS and Social Security Administration scams, auto warranty scams, and utilities scams. In just one month in 2022, KWK allegedly routed more than 20,000 calls with illegally spoofed telephone numbers and more than 8.7 million calls made using invalid Caller ID numbers.

Inbound Inc. Inbound received at least 63 traceback notices between 2021 and 2022, including many about calls that involved imposter scams. Inbound is also estimated to have allegedly routed more than 28.4 million DirecTV and cable discount scam robocalls in a single month in 2022. The FTC previously issued a cease-and-desist demand to Inbound over these scam calls.

AKA Management, Inc. AKA received at least 129 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022, including about calls that were government imposter scams and tech support scams. AKA is also estimated to have allegedly routed about 12.1 million Amazon and Apple imposter robocalls to consumers in a single month in 2022.

CallVox LLC: CallVox received more than 47 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022 warning of unlawful or suspicious robocalls that it helped move into and through the U.S. telephone network, including thousands of calls to people who were registered on the Do Not Call list and calls placed using illegally spoofed telephone numbers.

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.

Copies of the warning letters are available here.

View this press release on the Wisconsin DOJ website here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.