(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Tired of your phone ringing daily and hearing a machine with some message tell you about a loan you're pre-qualified for, a cable service, or how you can magically get out of debt, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson was too! A resident of Lexington, Wilson took part Tuesday in a nationwide public awareness campaign to fight illegal robocalls. The social media campaign is part of “Operation Call it Quits,” a joint crackdown on robocalls by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC announced 94 actions against operations responsible for more than one billion calls.
“I get robocalls just like everyone else does and they have become a legitimate nuisance,” Attorney General Wilson said. “This crackdown by the FTC goes after some of the worst offenders, and the public education part of ‘Operation Call it Quits’ will help everyone avoid some of these calls and know what to do when they get them.”
In March, Attorney General Wilson was part of a coalition of 54 state and territory attorneys general that sent a letter to the U.S. Senate urging it to pass the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, which is aimed at curbing robocalls and caller ID spoofing. That law would require voice service providers to participate in a call authentication framework to block unwanted calls. It would also create an interagency working group to take additional actions to reduce robocalls and hold telemarketers and robocallers accountable.
In addition to announcing legal action against robocallers, a large part of “Operation Call it Quits” is a social media campaign that gives consumers information on how to avoid robocalls and what they should do when they receive them. You can see those tips on the SC Attorney General’s Twitter feed at @SCAttyGenOffice and on Facebook at @SCAttyGen.
You can see more details about the FTC’s enforcement actions here: ACTION
