Vermont Business Magazine Illegal telemarketing calls continue to be a major source of consumer fraud scams and are also a major source of anxiety and annoyance to consumers, particularly Vermont seniors. In the last year, the Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) received over 3,200 reports of robocalls (pre-recorded calls) and other illegal telemarketing calls – and that is a small percentage of the calls actually received by Vermont consumers.
Today, Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell joined other state attorneys general urging the five major phone companies to offer call-blocking technology to their customers. This request follows a July 2015 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule clarification that verifies that federal law does not prohibit offering call-blocking services.
In ajoint letterto AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and CenturyLink, the attorneys general stated: “Every year, our offices are flooded with consumer complaints pleading for a solution to stop intrusive robocalls. Your companies are now poised to offer your customers the help they need. We urge you to act without delay.” The Vermont Attorney General’s Office will monitor progress on this request.
The attorneys general took action as the phone carriers had previously claimed they could not offer such services. “The FCC has made it clear that phone companies can assist us in our fight against unwanted, annoying, and sometimes expensive calls,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “The phone carriers must help us in this consumer protection effort and give their customers what they have been asking for – a way to stop these calls before they ever come through.”
Call-blocking options already exist for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service (NoMoRobo.com) and Android cell phones (Call Control), and the phone carriers should move quickly to implement and inform their consumers of these options.
Last September, Attorney General Sorrell and other attorneys general called on the FCC to allow phone companies to utilize call-blocking technologies. The FCC chairman endorsed the request in late May and the FCC voted to pass the rule clarification on June 18.
Vermont AG: July 22, 2015