The continued fight to protect you against scammers and fraudulent robocalls

Summer holiday may be coming to an end, but it feels like unwanted calls and scammers never took a break. In July, Americans received just over 3.6 billion robocalls, an almost 9% increase since June, with  46% of the robocalls related to scams. Covid-19 pandemic opened up the door for scammers to use new topics trying to gain private information or even worse, money. The FTC COVID-19 and Stimulus Report from January 1 to August 30, 2020, shows consumers lost at least $124 million in scams this year alone. 

But governmental and private organizations have been quick to fight back and protect consumers. In July, with a near unanimous vote, the US of House of Representatives passed The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, which requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to update its definition of robocalls, ensuring that organizations don’t target consumers with robocalls without their expressed consent. Consumers are also supposed to be able to withdraw their consent. It also allows the FCC more time to find and prosecute illegal robocallers as well as stiffer penalties.

IntelePeer also remains committed to protecting the trust placed in us by our partners and our customers, because there is no place in this industry for scammers. In fact, IntelePeer recently joined the Industry Traceback Group (ITG), which the FCC designated as the nation’s official Robocall Traceback Consortium to work cooperatively with state and federal regulators to help find and be part of the solution. This gives us better information to continue identifying bad actors and increases our ability to prevent them from accessing our network. We continue to conduct extensive audits and reviews to those seeking our services to make absolutely sure they are legitimate. Please refer to this post for more information on IntelePeer’s efforts related to STIR/SHAKEN.

While the illegal robocalls may still continue, efforts from the states, and companies like IntelePeer, will continue to crack down on the scams and protect our customers.