WRAL Investigates

New federal effort expected to help disconnect most robocallers

Robocalls have been at the top of consumer complaint lists for years. And for years, the Federal Communications Commission has been trying to stop them. Finally, after years of unenforceable deadlines, help is on the way.

Posted Updated

By
Cullen Browder
, WRAL anchor/reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Robocalls have been at the top of consumer complaint lists for years. And for years, the Federal Communications Commission has been trying to stop them.

Last year, North Carolinians filed nearly 132,000 robocall complaints with the FCC. Among the biggest complaints, 16,149 imposters, 11,859 warranty scams, 6,500 debt-reduction calls and 4,841 medical calls.

"I get my fair share of robocalls, and they annoy me just like they annoy everyone else," North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said. "It is out of control. It is completely unreasonable. It’s harassing, and it creates fraud on people."

Finally, after years of unenforceable deadlines, help is on the way.

A federal initiative called STIR/SHAKEN aims to block unwanted calls before they ever get to someone's phone.

STIR/SHAKEN is a technology framework designed to reduce robocalls and illegal phone number spoofing. STIR stands for Secure Telephony Identity Revisited, while SHAKEN stands for Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs.

The effort has been a long time coming:

  • The FCC sent STIR/SHAKEN notices to carriers in July 2017.
  • In November 2018, carriers were told to implement it by within a year.
  • The December 2019 deadline came and went, so Congress passed the TRACED Act to force the FCC to get moving.
  • Because of that bill, by the end of June, all carriers are supposed to be on board.

"We hope to see a meaningful impact once it’s deployed," Stein said.

What took so long?

"You know it’s a difficult problem. If it was easy to solve, we would have solved it by now," said communications attorney Michele Shuster, who's represented by consumers during her time in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to telemarketers trying to follow the rules.

Shuster said STIR/SHAKEN will have a bigger impact than previous efforts to stop unwanted calls.

"The do-not-call registry stopped legitimate businesses who were concerned about following the law from making calls. It didn’t stop the bad actors from making calls," she said.

STIR/SHAKEN works like this: When someone is making call from Raleigh, their carrier verifies their number. As the call travels to its destination, any intermediate carriers along the way also verify the number. Finally, the phone company of the person on the receiving end of the call also signs off, allowing the call to go through.

Stein noted the process has one major drawback.

"If there’s a break in the chain at any stage along the way, in that moment, the robocaller can change the number of origin," he said, allowing spoofed calls where the identity of the caller is hidden, to get through.

Two months from the June 30 deadline, WRAL Investigates found plenty of breaks in the chain.

A robocall mitigation database lists 428 carriers. Right now, only 14 say they’ve fully implemented STIR/SHAKEN. If someone's phone company doesn’t get certified, other carriers using STIR/SHAKEN will be required to block calls from everyone that provider serves, starting in September.

Many smaller phone companies are struggling because STIR/SHAKEN won’t work on their older systems, especially those that still use copper wiring.

"It’s still going to be a problem for rural areas," Shuster said.

"A real challenge are people that have traditional land lines," Stein agreed.

STIR/SHAKEN also provides hope that enforcement will be more effective than in the past. Over the last five years, the FCC has fined robocallers more than $387 million but collected only $25,000.

Even as the new system is implemented, scammers are looking for weak spots. Shuster said robocalls will continue, but not at the levels they are now. Stein said that, as long as robocallers try to get around the law, he’ll keep trying to stop them.

"I will do what’s necessary to bring peace and quiet to our phones," he said.

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