HARRISBURG – Attorney General Dave Sunday announced commencement of phase two of the national “Operation Robocall Roundup” initiative — with the expansion focused on four major voice phone providers allowing illegal calls to Pennsylvanians.
Attorney General Sunday is part of the bipartisan Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, which is now directing providers Inteliquent, Bandwidth, Lumen, and Peerless to crackdown on illegal robocalls across their networks.
“Robocalls are more than just a nuisance — they can be dangerous lures to obtain Pennsylvanians’ personal information and access to their identity and finances,” Attorney General Sunday said. “I am pleased with the work we have done so far to cut down on robocalls from reaching Pennsylvanians’ phones, but there is much more work to be done and the profiting providers must step up and be part of the solution.”
In August, Attorney General Sunday sent warning letters to 37 smaller voice providers that were allowing suspected illegal robocalls. This next phase targets companies with far larger footprints in the U.S. phone and voice ecosystem. In some cases, the larger providers are allowing millions of robocalls to reach consumers.
The following chart shows the scale of suspected illegal robocall activity linked to each company:
Scope of Suspected Illegal Robocall Activity
|
Provider |
Total Traceback Notices Since 2019 |
Estimated Imposter Robocalls from “Amazon” or “Apple” (3-year period) | Estimated Imposter “Social Security Administration” or “IRS” Robocalls (3-4 year period) |
| Inteliquent | 9,712 | 450 million | 1.425 billion |
| Bandwidth | 3.060 | 162.7 million | 301 million |
| Peerless | 5,662 | 210.7 million | 585.3 million |
| Lumen | 7,265 | 261.5 million | 886.2 million |
Phase 1 of Operation Robocall Roundup Already Delivered Results
After letters were sent in August, the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force saw these rapid, measurable changes from providers:
- 13 companies were removed from the Federal Communications Commission’s Robocall Mitigation Database, meaning no voice providers in the United States may accept their call traffic.
- 19 companies stopped appearing in any traceback results, indicating that these companies stopped allowing suspected illegal robocalls on their voice networks.
- At least four providers terminated contracts with high-risk customer accounts that were identified as transmitting illegal voice traffic.
In 2022, 51 Attorneys General joined forces to create the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, which is led by North Caroline Attorney General Jeff Jackson, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. The Task Force investigates and takes legal action against companies responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic that is routed into and across voice networks in the United States.
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