Idaho AG: Bipartisan Multistate Anti-Robocall Task Force takes aim at four major phone companies
News Team
BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) — Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador is taking the next step in the fight against illegal robocalls. On Wednesday, Dec. 3rd, the Attorney General’s office announced phase two of “Operation Robocall Roundup,” expanding the program to target four big phone companies accused of letting millions of scam calls reach American homes.
The bipartisan Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force has directed Inteliquent, Bandwidth, Lumen, and Peerless to stop transmitting suspected illegal robocalls across their networks. The Task Force began in 2022, as 51 attorneys general joined forces to investigate and take legal action against companies responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic routed into and across the United States.
Labrador says Idahoans are fed up with scammers, and it’s time to hold these providers accountable.
“Idahoans are frustrated with scammers swindling families by pretending to be the IRS, Social Security, or any other legitimate entity,” said Attorney General Labrador. “My Consumer Protection Division works hard to educate people on how to avoid scams, but we need to hold telecom providers accountable for allowing that illegal traffic.”
Phase one has already pushed dozens of smaller carriers to change their ways. After sending warning letters to 37 companies that were allowing suspected illegal robocalls onto the U.S. telephone network, Labrador says the Task Force saw rapid, measurable changes:
13 companies were removed from the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database, meaning no provider in the United States may accept their call traffic.
19 companies stopped appearing in any traceback results, indicating they ceased routing suspected illegal robocalls.
At least four providers terminated high-risk customer accounts identified as transmitting illegal traffic.
Now, Labrador says they’re not done. The state is pushing to stop these calls at the source once and for all.
“The sheer volume of these scam calls and texts are staggering and shows that telecom fraud is big business. Our efforts are working, but I won’t stop fighting for the people – often seniors – who get exploited,” said Attorney General Labrador.