Sick of robocalls? Kentucky attorney general joins others in urging feds to crack down
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has joined with the chief law-enforcement officers of 46 other states in calling for improvements in a database used to combat illegal robocalls.
The changes at issue involve the Robocall Mitigation Database, or RMD, according to a letter to the Federal Communications Commission that Coleman and the other state attorneys general signed this week.
Voice service providers are required to register with the FCC to operate in the U.S., but the database has not done enough to prevent robocall services from getting illegitimate registrations to make illegal robocalls, Coleman said in a news release.
The database is a key resource attorneys general use in looking into illegal robocalls, but the information in it is often false, inaccurate or misleading, according to the letter.
“Bad actors who prey on the vulnerable with illegal robocalls have no place in Kentucky,” Coleman said in a news release. “The FCC has the tools to prevent robocallers from taking advantage of our families, and it’s time for the Commission to use them.”
The attorneys general called on the FCC to strengthen the database and include penalties for providers who provide false or inadequate information.
Coleman said scammers continue to find ways to “bombard” people with illegal robocalls and texts.
In October, there were nearly five billion robocalls placed across the U.S., with an estimated 53.6 million in Kentucky, Coleman said in a news release.
The letter, signed by a total of 47 Republican and Democrat officeholders, was submitted through the National Association of Attorneys General in support of changes the FCC has proposed in the robocall database.
Coleman, a Republican, is a member of the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force.
