Hassan, Carper Want Tougher Crackdown on COVID-19 Robocall Scams

Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Tom Carper, D-Del., urged the FCC, DOJ and IRS Friday to “aggressively” crack down on robocall scams about the COVID-19 pandemic. They wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Attorney General Bill Barr and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig: “Government and industry should always cooperate to fight illegal robocalls, but it is even more critical at a time when so many Americans are facing economic and health concerns.” The senators’ letter to Pai noted FCC recent actions, including a $225 million fine against robocall businesses Rising Eagle Capital and JSquared Telecom and their principals (see 2006090044). Only “a negligible amount of the hundreds of millions of dollars in FCC-levied fines against robocallers since 2015 have been actually been collected by” DOJ, the senators said. “This poor track record raises concerns that scammers using robocalls to deceive consumers and exploit anxiety associated with the COVID-19 public health emergency will be able to act without significant fear of reprisal, and never made to disgorge the ill-gotten proceeds.” The lawmakers sought recommendations whether further legislation is needed “to ensure that the FCC and DOJ work closer together and actually recoup fines that the FCC levies against robocallers.” They want to know whether six gateway providers the FCC and FTC contacted in April (see 2004030052) have cut traffic allowing pandemic-related scam robocalls originating outside the country into the U.S. The two agencies sent a second round of letters to the providers in May (see 2005200053). The FCC, DOJ and IRS didn’t comment.