Robocalls are on the rise, and aren’t likely
to give beleaguered consumers a break anytime soon.
According to data from RoboKiller, these spam calls have reached
“epidemic” status — with Americans receiving a staggering 5.6 billion robocalls
in November alone.
“There is no silver bullet solution. We are
determined, though, to keep at this and to win this fight,” Jonathan Spalter,
President and CEO of USTelecom – The Broadband Association, told YFi
PM.
However, he cautioned that for several
reasons, “it's not going to be won overnight.”
Americans received 5.6B robocalls last month,
according to RoboKiller.
Anti-robocall legislation is widely expected
to pass in the Senate, after House lawmakers approved the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act by an almost
unanimous vote just last week. The measure requires most phone companies to
develop technology that verifies calls are coming from real numbers, in
addition to blocking robocalls without charging customers more.
Spalter, who leads a national trade
association representing technology providers, explains this legislation gives
government officials “more vigorous enforcement” against criminal scammers making illegal
robocalls.
“Not only are we seeing a lot of these calls
spoofing financial services firms, the IRS, but also our trusted entities—what
should be trusted, like health care,” he added.
The number of robocalls in the U.S. has
increased to 35% this year, with America taking eighth place for countries most
impacted by spam calls, according to Truecaller’s annual report.
Spalter told Yahoo Finance the industry was
rallying to address the crisis.
“Our USTelecom members, who are the leading
innovative carriers out there, are investing mightily, not only in expanding
and making our networks better, but fighting against the degradation of digital
trust that these scammers are causing,” Spalter said.
McKenzie Stratigopoulos is a producer at Yahoo
Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @mckenziestrat
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