LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Have you ever answered the phone only to be greeted by a robocall? Those kinds of calls will hopefully be a thing of the past, now that Operation Robocall Roundup is in place.
Launched by Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford, the initiative was called a "multi-state effort by the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force to crack down on robocalls across the country" by the AG's office.
According to the AG's office, the Task Force "investigates and takes legal action against companies responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic routed into and across the United States."
Ford, along with 50 bipartisan attorneys general, are contacting 37 voice providers with letters of warning, demanding action on their end to "stop illegal robocalls being routed through their networks," the AG's office shared.
"The ongoing deluge of robocalls across the counry and in Nevada has become a nuisance to our residents that must end. The providers that we have warned today have ignored federal rules meant to stop these robocalls from getting through to the phones of Nevadans. They must immediately comply with the rules." — Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford
The issue stems from providers failing to comply with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) rules regarding government traceback request responses, with the AG's office sharing that they "haven't registered in the FCC's Robocall Mitigation Databases; or haven't filed a plan that describes how they will reduce illegal robocalls on their network."
The AG's office said that this disregard for the rules allows for robocallers to access providers' networks, where the calls are sent downstream to other providers before reaching Nevadans' devices.
In addition to the 37 voice providers, 99 downstream providers will also be sent letters, because they receive call traffic from those voice providers, the AG's office shared. It is their hope that drawing awareness to the issue helps the downstream providers learn about the practices of the voice providers.
According to the AG's office, the FCC shared that seven of the providers will be removed from the Robocall Mitigation Database, prohibiting other providers from accepting and routing calls from those networks.
