Phone companies represent a critical line of defense when it comes to warning about or blocking robocalls and robotexts. But most telecom carriers are failing to adequately protect their customers, which is contributing to a rebound in the number of spam messages, according to a report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
About 2 billion unwanted calls and 19 billion unwanted texts go out in the U.S. every month. After a short-lived decline in 2022 and 2023, spam messages increased again last year despite numerous regulations making them illegal. Last year, about 92% of Americans said they received a spam call and 86% received a spam text, according to Truecaller’s U.S. Spam and Scam Report.
“It’s unconscionable that these multi-bazillion-dollar companies don’t use every preventative measure available while scammers rip off innocent, vulnerable consumers every single day,” said Danny Katz, executive director of the CoPIRG Foundation, a statewide consumer watchdog group that held a news conference on the topic in Denver on Thursday morning.
Messages range from claims of blocked package deliveries to warnings of unpaid taxes and potential arrest to seemingly innocent texts from unknown numbers asking things like, “Are you still coming tonight?”
People waste countless hours answering unwanted messages or trying to sort out what is a legitimate communication. At a minimum, they have their concentration broken as they try to work, relax or spend time with family, Katz said.
Beyond being an annoyance, about 56 million people in 2023 reported losing money because of bogus calls and texts. Things are so bad that Teresa Murray with the U.S. PIRG Education Fund urges consumers to never respond to anyone they weren’t expecting to hear from. Period.
“Assume every unexpected call or text or email has bad intentions,” Murray said. Never provide personal information and never give out money because of an unsolicited or unexpected call or text. If uncertain, hang up, research the legitimate number of the business in question, and then call back.
Katz said even responding lets the sender know the number is monitored and could result in more spam messages. If someone is concerned about a spam text, they can forward it to 7726, which will block the sender. For suspected scams, consumers can file a complaint with the Stop Fraud Colorado program.
U.S. PIRG reviewed what steps the nation’s largest two dozen telecom firms, cellular and landline, were taking to protect their customers and only three earned an A grade — Charter/Spectrum, Comcast/Xfinity and Nextlink. Another five earned B’s overall — AT&T, Lumen/Centurylink, Mediacom, T-Mobile and WOW!. Cox Communications, U.S. Cellular, and Windstream received C grades.
Half of the carriers received a failing grade for their efforts, including two important carriers in Colorado — Verizon and Dish/Boost Mobile.
In September 2009, the Federal Communications Commission declared pre-recorded telemarketing calls illegal without the written consent of consumers, and has passed other regulations over the years to stem the flow of unwanted calls and messages. In 2019, Congress passed a law requiring phone companies to use technology to combat robocalls.
But the unsolicited calls and texts keep on coming. Compliance has been lackluster and some telecom companies actively assist scammers, making money off their traffic. On Dec. 11, the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, made up of 51 state attorneys general, including Colorado’s Phil Weiser, issued a warning to KWK Communications, Inbound Communications, AKA Management, and CallVox LLC and their owners that they were under investigation and faced potential legal action.
“Unwanted robocalls are a scourge, and I am committed to protecting consumers from them,” Weiser said in a news release in December. “With the rise of artificial intelligence and scams becoming increasingly difficult to spot, voice service providers must be vigilant against bad actors using their legitimate systems to spread scams and fraud.”
Former safeguards, like caller ID, no longer offer protection. Scammers can “spoof” or imitate numbers of legitimate government agencies, local businesses and existing contacts. Artificial intelligence technology can clone voices, and then make convincing requests for money over the phone, typically to help loved ones supposedly in trouble.
Massive data breaches have made names, addresses, and other personal information widely available. Just because a caller can tell someone their Social Security number doesn’t make them legitimate.
That has made it more urgent than ever for carriers to step up and stop the calls and texts from going out in the first place, Katz said.