BOISE, Idaho — Idaho will be joining a nationwide task force of 50 attorneys general in order to investigate and take legal action against telecommunication companies, and cut down on illegal robocalls.
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden made the announcement Tuesday, saying, "the creation of the task force is a big step forward in our fight against scam robocalls. These calls are universally loathed by consumers and some telecommunications companies aren't doing what they can and should to help solve the problem," Wasden said. "Our goal as a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general is to hold providers' feet to the fire to protect Idahoans from these frustrating and annoying interruptions."
Americans deal with more than 33 million scam robocalls every day, with most of those coming from overseas, according to the National Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The task force will focus on shutting down the providers who are profiting from this illegal scam traffic. Already, the task force has issued 20 civil investigative demands to 20 gateway providers responsible for the foreign robocall traffic.
In many of these cases, the providers are intentionally "turning a blind eye" regarding these illegal calls because of the revenue return, even though they have a responsibility to ensure the traffic they are bringing in from overseas is legal.
The Task Force will focus on companies throughout the telecommunications industry that are ignoring this responsibility and help reduce the number of robocalls coming into the U.S.
Wasden offers the following 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.
- Keep your guard up. If you suspect fraudulent activity, immediately hang up and do not provide any personal information.
- If you receive a robocall offering to sell you something, file a complaint with the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division.
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