We’ve all experienced the annoyance that is a robocall on our phones. Despite this, scam texts have become an out-of-control problem in recent years. Emails and phone calls saying that an online order of mine has been canceled or that my account has been hacked are rather common.
The FTC reports that the number of complaints they have received regarding fraudulent text messages has increased from 3,300 in 2015 to 18,900 in the past year. The FCC has ordered phone carriers to take more action against fraudsters.
How is the FCC trying to prevent this kind of message?
U.S. authorities have stated that scam SMS has reached epidemic proportions, calling on the mobile industry to take more action.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enacted new rules on Thursday mandating that mobile-service providers reject Robotech communications that the FCC deems to be highly likely unlawful.
This comprises communications sent from numbers that are not intended to transmit them, such as unused or invalid ones, or from numbers that have been blacklisted by official bodies.
The FCC claims that spam texts pose a growing threat to the safety of all Americans, and these guidelines are the first they have issued to address this issue directly.
“These robotexts are making a mess of our phones,” Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel of the FCC stated.“They are reducing trust in a powerful way to communicate.”
Also, under the new regulations, cellphone service providers will have to designate a contact person for customers who think their messages were mistakenly deleted.
Those texts that are most likely unlawful, according to Ms. Rosenworcel, will be blocked under the new regulations.“But we are not stopping here,” she remarked.
The FCC announced it will seek public feedback on additional methods it may use to combat unwanted texts, including authentication procedures and adding numbers associated with businesses the FCC has listed as unlawful robot enters to the list of illegal texters.
The government organization is also proposing to shut down the “lead generator loophole.” According to the FCC, the gap in the law makes it possible for different marketers to exploit a single consumer’s agreement to receive text messages and robocalls.
T-Mobile US Inc. spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Verizon Communications Inc. When contacted by The Wall Street Journal, AT&T Inc. sent them to the CTIA.
“CTIA welcomes continued opportunities to partner with the FCC on our shared commitment to protect consumers and bring enforcement actions against bad actors,” the consensus of the group indicated.
The CTIA stated in comments submitted to the FCC last year that efforts were underway within the telecom sector to prevent unsolicited text messages.
Since more and more people in the United States have become reliant on their computers and mobile devices, online fraud has increased quickly in recent years, especially during the Covid-19 outbreak.
About $10 billion was lost to online fraudsters in 2017, according to a report released earlier this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.