BALTIMORE — Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh recently announced that Maryland is joining a nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force of 50 states.
He intends to take legal action against the telecommunications companies responsible for bringing the robocalls into the country.
“Robocalls are more than an annoyance, they are often schemes by fraudsters and scammers with the purpose of stealing billions of dollars from unsuspecting Americans,” said Frosh.
According to the National Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center, over 33 million scam robocalls are made to Americans every day.
These calls include fraud against seniors, Amazon scams against consumers and many other scams targeting all consumers. In 2021, scammers took $29.8 billion through fraudulent calls, while many of those originated overseas.
The companies that allow foreign calls into the United States cannot turn a blind eye to the illegal calls using their network. The Task Force will focus on companies that profit by facilitating fraudulent calls.
Here are some tips that Attorney General Frosh offers to avoid scams and unwanted calls:
- Be wary of callers who ask you to pay by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency.
- Look out for prerecorded calls from imposters posing as government agencies. The Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service don’t typically make phone calls to individuals.
- Look out for prerecorded calls from imposters posing as government agencies. The Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service don’t typically make phone calls to individuals.
- Don’t answer an incoming phone call when you don’t recognize the number, and don’t return calls to unfamiliar phone numbers.
- If you do pick up, don’t interact with the caller in any way, press numbers, or speak to anyone. Hang up the phone.
- Don’t provide any personal or financial information over the phone.
- Scammers may also text you. Don’t click on any links you receive in text messages.
- Register your phone number(s) with the Do Not Call registry here
- File a "Do Not Call or Text" complaint here
