Stop Allowing Robocalls: Ohio Attorney General Wants Regulations

COLUMBUS, OH — In recent years, there is no more familiar sight than an unfamiliar phone number lighting up your cell phone.

You answer and quickly discover you've been had — the person on the other end of the line isn't a person at all but a robot. It's strange though because you could have sworn the phone number looked legitimate.

Don't worry, it was. Robocallers are increasingly using technology and other tactics to "spoof" valid phone numbers, masking their actual number by imitating someone else's number. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and his peers in every other state want to stop the barrage of robocallers by cracking down on spoofing.

“If you have to lie about something as basic as the phone number you’re calling from you’re not up to any good,” Yost said. “No more fake IDs.”

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On Tuesday, Yost and his colleagues sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission to express their support for the agency's work on cutting into spoofed robocalls. Unfortunately, for every move regulators make, the scammers are countering with a circumventing angle.

For example, this year, phone companies had to implement STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication technology. The tech combats spoofing by ensuring phone calls come from verified numbers. The technology is still being implemented industry-wide, but is already being worked around by robocallers.

Robocallers are obtaining legitimate phone numbers by giving false information to companies that have access to the numbers. The companies then sell the numbers to the robocallers, not necessarily knowing who has purchased the number.

The FCC has proposed a more thorough application, review and monitoring process for phone companies. They hope this cuts into the robocallers tactics and the FCC is getting supports from attorneys general, including Yost.

Here's hoping the next time you answer the phone there's an actual person on the other end of the line.