For Immediate Release:
Monday, December 12, 2022
Contact: Nazneen Ahmed
919-716-0060
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today led a coalition of 51 bipartisan attorneys general supporting the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposal to help cut down on unwanted text messages by requiring mobile wireless providers to block texts from invalid, unassigned, or unused numbers, and from numbers on a Do Not Originate (DNO) list.
“We all get too many texts every day from numbers we don’t recognize with messages that frustrate, annoy, or seek to scam us,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “Robotexts are becoming as much of a nuisance as robocalls, and we need to take steps now to stop them. I’m pleased that the FCC is taking a closer look at this issue, and I’m proud to lead my fellow attorneys general in finding solutions to cut down unwanted texts.”
Attorneys general work to protect consumers in their states and have long been at the forefront of fighting to reduce the number of robocalls that plague Americans. But scammers are shifting to using robotexts to run the same scams. Just like spam calls, spam texts are an irritation and can result in people losing millions through phishing texts, imposter scams, and links containing ransomware. In 2021, the FCC received more than 15,000 consumer complaints about unwanted texts and, in 2020, scammers stole more than $86 million through frauds perpetrated via scam text messages.
The coalition of 51 attorneys general support the FCC’s proposal to require mobile wireless providers to block unlawful text messages at the network level if they originate from fraudulent numbers. Further, the attorneys general are asking the FCC to continue pushing the wireless industry to develop call authentication technology for text messages so people can know if the texts they receive are from spoofed numbers and law enforcement can investigate the source of these texts.
Attorney General Stein is joined in sending this letter by the Attorneys General of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the letter is available here.
More on Attorney General Stein’s work to protect North Carolinians from robocalls and robotexts:
- Attorney General Josh Stein is Investigating Two VoIP Providers Alleged to be Assisting Illegal Robocallers
- Attorney General Josh Stein Leads Bipartisan Coalition of 51 Attorneys General Calling on FCC to Require More Anti-Robocall Protections
- Attorney General Josh Stein Leads New Nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force
- Attorney General Josh Stein Commends FCC Actions to Stop Illegal International Scam Calls
- Attorney General Josh Stein Sues “Gateway” Phone Company for Facilitating Illegal International Scam Calls
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