Attorney General Cameron Urges FCC to Reduce Unwanted Text Messages from Fraudulent Numbers

Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at 10:03 AM

Crack down on spam callers to cell phone users

FRANKFORT, Ky. (December 12, 2022) – Attorney General Cameron today joined a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general in urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue its efforts to reduce unwanted text messages from fraudulent numbers.

“As we work with our state and federal partners to crack down on illegal robocalls, scammers are increasingly using text messages to perpetrate scams,” said Attorney General Cameron. “Today, we asked the FCC to adopt new policies to help us stop scammers from sending unwanted text messages to Kentuckians.”

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.

In their letter, the attorneys general support the FCC’s proposed rule, which would require mobile wireless providers to block unlawful text messages at the network level if they originate from invalid, unassigned, or unused numbers, and from numbers on a Do Not Originate (DNO) list.

The coalition also asked the FCC to continue urging the U.S. wireless industry to develop caller ID authentication technology for text messages to protect consumers from text scams and to aid law enforcement in their investigations.

Attorney General Cameron is joined in sending this comment letter by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

A copy of the letter is available here.