U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced Sunday that he will introduce new legislation requiring landline and mobile carriers to offer free robocall-blocking technology to all consumers, a press release stated.
Introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) in the House of Representatives, the Repeated Objectionable Bothering of Consumers on Phones Act (ROBOCOP) Act would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require that telephone companies label and block calls with fraudulent caller ID, due to widespread spoofing.
“Robocalls are one of the things that annoy Americans the most and the ROBOCOP Act will finally help put a rest to these dreaded calls that are interrupting family dinners—or worse—scamming people out their hard-earned money,” Schumer said.
Federal ‘Do Not Call’ rules have been ignored, leading to hundreds of thousands of individuals receiving unwanted spam calls. The average of total complaints in the first four months of FY 2016 are 441,281.25, according to the press release. The average total complaints for the same period in FY 2015 were 264,531.5.
Robocalls are more than just an annoyance, however. Schumer explained that the automated calls can hurt consumers financially when scammers are involved. According to Consumer Reports, robocalls have caused approximately $350 million in financial losses each year.
“Despite the existing ‘Do Not Call’ registry, the robocall problem has returned in a serious way,” Schumer added, describing the robocalls as “an epidemic that we’ve got to stop—whether it’s the landline OR the mobile phone. It’s taking far too long for telecom companies to act, so that’s why I’m introducing the ROBOCOP bill which will finally require all major landline and mobile carriers to work towards making robocall blocking technology available to all consumers. Now is the time for phone carriers to answer the call and free consumers of these dreaded robocalls.”