Deirdre Cummings
Consumer Program Director, MASSPIRG Education Fund
617-747-4319
[email protected]
New Report: Less than half of phone companies use anti-robocall technology despite law; unwanted calls down only 17% in 3 years
Media Contacts
Upcoming election has fueled spam, scam calls and texts
BOSTON – Weren’t we supposed to stop getting so many spam robocalls and robotexts? If you still are, here’s why: Three years after a federal law started requiring phone companies to install anti-robocall technology, less than half of those companies have completed the installation, according to Ringing in our Fears 2024, a new report by the MASSPIRG Education Fund.
Also contributing to the problem of our phones dinging and vibrating too much: Federal rules to combat spam robotexts started kicking in just last year, and they don’t do much to combat the billions of unwanted texts we get every month.
“Instead of working for us, our phones over the past 15 to 20 years have increasingly been used against us,” said Deirdre Cummings, Consumer Program Director for MASSPIRG Education Fund. “Every day, scammers swindle devastating amounts of money or personal information from unsuspecting people. Everyone — starting with phone companies, regulators, Congress and banks — needs to do more to stop this pervasive problem”
You may have been bombarded by even more unwanted calls and texts in recent months because of the upcoming election. Ringing in our Fears explains what’s legal, what’s not and what you can do to reduce the influx, which isn’t likely to stop after the election.
The new report is MASSPIRG Education Fund’s fourth in an annual series. We analyze compliance with the TRACED Act. This law that Congress passed in 2019 aims to reduce the billions of scam and spam calls every month that waste our time, stress our brains and put us at risk for fraud.
The report also shows:
- 3,800 more phone companies have installed required anti-robocall technology since September 2021, for a total of 4,365 companies.
- Scam and telemarketing robocalls have declined under the new law, but only by 17% over three years.
- Unwanted robotexts have nearly tripled in the same time.
- Of the thousands of companies not using the required anti-robocall technology, the FCC has shut down only 15 companies to date.
- Per-person fraud losses from robocalls are increasing, perhaps because data breaches and artificial intelligence help scammers be more believable.
- More enforcement and stronger banking laws that protect consumers and require corporate accountability could reduce fraud.
About 56 million Americans (21% of adults) lost money through scam calls in 2023, according to Truecaller’s U.S. Spam and Scam Report.
“How many millions more people will be harmed by scam calls before lawmakers and regulators do something strong enough to stop the calls once and for all?” asked Teresa Murray, Consumer Watchdog Director for U.S. PIRG Education Fund and author of the report.
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