Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor recently announced that the State of Alaska is joining a nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force of 50 attorneys general to investigate and take legal action against the telecommunications companies responsible for bringing robocalls into the United States. It’s a bipartisan nationwide Task Force formed to reduce illegal robocalls.
According to the Alaska Department of Law, gateway providers that bring foreign traffic into the U.S. telephone network have a responsibility to ensure the traffic is legal, but they allegedly aren’t taking sufficient action to stop robocalls and, the Attorney General says that they appear to be intentionally turning a blind eye in return for steady revenue.
Attorney General Taylor said:
“Robocalls are one of the biggest sources of scams in Alaska and across the country. Our office is committed to working with our sister states to stop the flood of illegal robocalls that originate outside the U.S.”
According to the National Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center, more than 33 million scam robocalls are made each day. They involve Social Security Administration fraud against seniors, Amazon scams against consumers, and other scams targeting consumers. An estimated $29.8 billion dollars was stolen through scam calls in the last year with most of the robocalls originating overseas. The Task Force aims to shut down the providers for those who don’t take steps to mitigate the robocalls.
Attorney General Taylor provided several tips to avoid scams and unwanted calls:
- Be wary of callers who specifically ask you to pay by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. For example, the Internal Revenue Service does not accept iTunes gift cards.
- Look out for prerecorded calls from imposters posing as government agencies. Typically, the Social Security Administration does not make phone calls to individuals.
- If you suspect fraudulent activity, immediately hang-up and do not provide any personal information.
- If you think you may be a victim of a scam, contact our Consumer Protection Division at (907) 269-5200 or file a complaint.
The Task Force has issued 20 civil investigative demands to 20 gateway providers and others that allegedly are responsible for most foreign robocalls.