Kentucky attorney general joins coalition to fight against robocalls, spam texts
Kentucky has joined a 48-state bipartisan coalition seeking to crack down on scam calls and texts.
Announced July 10 by Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office, Kentucky is joining a coalition of attorneys general pushing for the Federal Communications Commission to address inadequate measures to protect Americans from fraudulent robocalls and texts.
Today, phone numbers can be purchased and used for robocalls and texts. While most legitimate businesses keep the same phone number for many years, scammers cycle through millions of brand-new phone numbers, which helps them avoid detection by spam filters.
“These con-artists continue to target Kentuckians in hopes of scamming them out of our hard-earned money,” said Coleman in a statement. “Our Office will continue to collaborate with partners who are dedicated to protecting our people.”
While legislative action in 2021 limited scammers’ ability to “spoof” or illegally legitimize phone calls posing as businesses or individuals, the problem has not been fully addressed.
According to Robocall Index, 323.4 million robocalls were placed to Kentucky during the first six months of this year. Last year, Americans lost nearly $2 billion to scam robocalls and texts.
The coalition is seeking to cut off scammers’ access to legitimate numbers, curtailing their ability to deceive and scam people, according to a statement released by Coleman’s office.
Measures the coalition is asking to see put in place include requiring companies that purchase and resell phone numbers in North America to meet stronger transparency and certification rules, block the sale of numbers to entities that aren’t tied to calling or texting service, and restrict the offering of trial numbers to discourage scammers from exploiting them.
