Merkley gets robocall, presses FCC to act on rising tide

Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., pressed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday on whether the commission is doing enough to protect consumers from predatory robocalls, including ones that impersonate federal law enforcement agencies.

Merkley’s action follows a robocall he received in recent months, purporting to be from the FBI and pushing for the recipient to “settle” an outstanding case with the “Department of Tax and Crime Investigation.”

“It is illegal to impersonate a federal officer, and more must to be done to stop these fraudulent harassing calls,” Merkley wrote in a letter to Pai. “Investigating further, it appears that the FBI has known about these robocalls since February 2017. The FBI Pittsburgh field office released a community outreach press release suggesting that the public ‘be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls.’

“Nearly two years later these deceitful calls persist and continue to put Americans at risk of sharing personal identifiable information to scam artists.”

“Unsolicited robocalls are far more than an inconvenience to consumers – they are targeted threats to the general public,” Merkley continued. “These calls are designed to manipulate individuals into revealing critical personal information such as their credit card and social security numbers and are increasing at an alarming rate. I request that the FCC share what it is doing to protect consumers from these fraudulent calls and to authenticate calls to unmask these callers and track down the perpetrators.”

Merkley also noted that elderly Americans are among the most vulnerable to predatory robocalls, and that robocalls impersonating federal agencies can erode trust in public institutions.

“Unsolicited calls like these endanger the financial security and right to privacy of millions of Americans, and more must be done to stop them,” Merkley concluded.

The full text of the letter follows below:

Dear Chairman Pai,

I am writing to inquire into the current efforts to limit the number of robocalls Americans receive. I am specifically interested in what the Federal Communications Commission is doing to stop predatory scams implemented through robocalls, especially as they relate to deliberate impersonations of government officials, including what steps have been taken to protect to consumers from excessive and predatory robocalls and how the issue of robocalls has been addressed to date.

On November 20, 2018, I received an automated call impersonating an official from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The call claimed to be a final notice of an outstanding case with the “Department of Tax and Crime Investigation.” It instructed me to call the FBI to settle the fabricated case, and then recited a number for me to call back. I found this call to be very disconcerting.

It is illegal to impersonate a federal officer, and more must to be done to stop these fraudulent harassing calls. Investigating further, it appears that the FBI has known about these robocalls since February 2017. The FBI Pittsburgh field office released a community outreach press release suggesting that the public “be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls.” Nearly two years later these deceitful calls persist and continue to put Americans at risk of sharing personal identifiable information to scam artists.

Unsolicited robocalls are far more than an inconvenience to consumers – they are targeted threats to the general public. These calls are designed to manipulate individuals into revealing critical personal information such as their credit card and social security numbers and are increasing at an alarming rate. I request that the FCC share what it is doing to protect consumers from these fraudulent calls and to authenticate calls to unmask these callers and track down the perpetrators.

Elderly Americans are especially vulnerable as they are often the targets of these dishonest efforts. These calls include a variety of fraudulent offers pertaining to insurance policies, medical alert systems, and warnings of non-existing issues with their social security payments. A growing number of calls are related to debts that robocalls claim the receiver owes. In November 2018 alone, 5.1 billion calls were made in an attempt to extract personal information and money from citizens across the country.

Aside from robbing victims of their time and money, another critical threat these robocalls pose is the erosion of trust in federal agencies. Every call a consumer receives in which the caller impersonates a government official will make consumers question the legitimacy of authentic communication from government agencies in the future. Citizens deserve government agencies they can place their trust in, but as robocalls continue, their trust only erodes, especially if they fall prey to these predatory efforts.

Unsolicited calls like these endanger the financial security and right to privacy of millions of Americans, and more must be done to stop them. I look forward to working with the FCC to protect consumers from unsolicited calls.

Sincerely,

Meanwhile. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., joined with a dozen senators Weednesday to ask federal officials how the shutdown is impeding the ability of the Federal Trade Commission to protect American consumers from robocallers and scammers.

The letter from Wyden and other senators to the FTC comes in the wake of a report by The Washington Post that the government shutdown could cause illegal and scamming robocalls to rise dramatically because the FTC was not funded, thus unable to administer key consumer protection programs or take enforcement action against bad actors.

The letter also requested guidance from the FTC on how to assist constituents affected by robocalls and scams during the shutdown.

“We are deeply concerned by the continued threat of illegal robocallers and other scammers during the ongoing government shutdown and want to work with you to make sure anyone falling victim to them during this unnecessary lapse in funding does not fall through the cracks,” the senators wrote.

“The FTC maintains a number of other important online services to prevent scams, assist consumers who have been scammed, and support the Commission’s law enforcement efforts,” they wrote. “For example, the FTC maintains the Do Not Call Registry to protect consumers from receiving unwanted commercial telemarketing calls. During this ongoing shutdown, consumers trying to add themselves to the Do Not Call Registry, either online or via telephone, encounter a message that this service is not being offered due to the lapse in funding.”

Others signing the letter are Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Edward J. Markey (MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mark Warner (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tina Smith (D-MN), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Bob Casey (D-PA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

A PDF of Wednesday’s letter to the FTC is available here.