New report: Half of largest phone companies earn D or F grades on robocall protections

DENVER – About 92% of Americans said they received spam calls in 2023, and 86% received spam texts, according to Truecaller’s U.S. Spam and Scam Report. More concerning, 56 million of those Americans reported they lost money through scam calls. Congress has passed laws to squash them, states have launched special investigations to fight con artists and millions of consumers file official complaints every year about fast-talking robocallers trying to get money or information. 

However, most phone companies are not doing everything they could do to protect us, according to our new report and scorecard, Who’s Calling?, CoPIRG Foundation and its national network surveyed two dozen of the largest phone companies nationwide – covering both cellular and home phone lines – to see who fares well and who doesn’t. The report graded businesses on both their use of mandatory technology and optional services that help their customers. It’s not pretty.  

“It’s unconscionable that these multi-bazillion-dollar companies don’t use every preventative measure available while scammers rip off innocent, vulnerable consumers every single day,” said Danny Katz, CoPIRG Foundation executive director. “Even if we don’t fall prey to a scam, we waste countless hours a year answering unwanted calls, sorting out what’s legitimate or just having our concentration broken while we’re trying to work, relax or enjoy family time.”

In fact, half of the largest phone companies in the United States earn D or F grades regarding the free services they don’t offer, such as providing on-screen scam warnings for incoming calls or allowing customers to block calls that don’t display Caller ID. These are all services the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – for several years – has permitted phone companies to offer consumers to filter or block suspected spam calls. 

On Dec. 11, the bipartisan 51-attorney general Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force sent warnings to phone providers following state investigations, including Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.

The CoPIRG Foundation report helps consumers understand what they should expect from their phone company and ways to protect themselves and their families by highlighting 10 mostly optional — but commonsense — services that voice providers can offer, as well as providers’ compliance with the law. Congress passed a law in 2019 requiring phone companies to fight spam robocalls with technology. For companies with text message capabilities, the report looks at two additional services companies are permitted by the FCC to offer.

Of the 24 companies in our survey:

• Five companies scored A’s on services offered; three scored A’s overall.
• Two companies scored B’s on services offered; five scored B’s overall.
• 12 earned D’s or F’s on services, and 13 earned D’s or F’s overall.
• As for the big four cellular companies’ overall grades:, AT&T and T-Mobile scored B’s, U.S. Cellular scored a C and Verizon scored a D.

“We’ve been abused by robocalls for 15 years, yet the problem has not appreciably diminished,” Katz said. “These companies are our first line of defense, and we should demand better.” 

See our guide: How to stop robocalls and robotexts and avoid scams

If you receive unwanted spam or scam calls or text messages, report them to the Colorado Attorney General’s fraud website – StopFraudColorado.gov .