HARTFORD, Conn. — Everyone is tired of those calls asking if you want to extend your car's warrantee. The good news is that there may be an end in sight.
Officials from the state Attorney General's office will be taking a leadership role in a nationwide task force to investigate the telecommunications companies responsible for bringing a majority of foreign robocalls into the United States.
Attorney General William Tong announced Tuesday that while all 50 states will participate, Connecticut will be one of 16 on the Executive Committee.
In Tuesday's action, the group issued 20 civil investigative demands to 20 gateway providers and other entities. Officials said these companies are allegedly responsible for a majority of robocall traffic from outside the United States.
Tasked with bringing foreign telephone traffic into the country, gateway providers have a responsibility to make sure the traffic is legal, but officials say the providers are not doing all they can to stop robocall traffic, even appearing to be intentionally turning a blind eye in return for steady revenue.
Officials said the focus will be on the businesses that ignore the law throughout the telecommunications industry. The goal is to help reduce the number of robocalls Connecticut residents receive and benefit the companies that are following the rules.
Last year, robocalls were responsible for $29.8 billion in fraud last year alone, according to officials.
"Our Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force will shut down the telecom fraud highway and bringing these scammers to justice. If these telecom bad actors cannot police themselves, our Task Force will,” said Tong.
The numbers are staggering. Over 33 million scam robocalls are made to Americans every day, according to the National Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center. Social Security Administration fraud against seniors, Amazon scams against consumers, and many other scams targeting all consumers, are among the most frequent.
The Attorney General's office had the following tips:
• Be wary of callers who specifically ask you to pay by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. For example, the Internal Revenue Service does not accept iTunes gift cards.
• Look out for prerecorded calls from imposters posing as government agencies. Typically, the Social Security Administration does not make phone calls to individuals.
• If you suspect fraudulent activity, immediately hang up and do not provide any personal information.
• Help bolster investigations in Connecticut by reporting your robocalls to dir.ct.gov/ag/complaint
• File a Do Not Call or Text complaint here: National Do Not Call Registry
Tips for avoiding spam texts:
• Consumers can report fraudulent texts to their wireless providers by forwarding it to 7726 (“SPAM”).
• Don’t respond to texts that look suspicious, or come from an unknown number
• Don’t click links in suspicious texts
• Don’t provide any sensitive personal or financial information
• If a business sends you a text, call them to verify the communication using a valid number. (Be aware that scammers may make their fraudulent numbers appear in a Google search, and be ready to accept your call. Try to use something other than a search engine to confirm the telephone number.)
Doug Stewart is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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