Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody have joined a coalition of 42 attorneys general urging the Federal Communications Commission to adopt new rules to stop the proliferation of illegal robocalls and spoofing.

The attorneys general submitted a reply to a public notice issued the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau seeking comment on proposed changes to the FCC Truth in Caller ID Act of 2018.

“The new rules will enable the Commission's Enforcement Bureau to combat caller ID spoofing activities originating outside the United States to recipients within the United States, as well as caller ID spoofing using alternative voice and text messaging services,” the AGs' reply brief said.

“It is evident that the explosive growth of caller ID spoofing and robocalls is being driven primarily by scams,” Carr said in a news release Wednesday. “State attorneys general are on the front lines fighting the criminals behind these scams, and in Georgia, we will continue to work with our federal partners to stop those who try to take advantage of our citizens.”

Carr noted that not all robocalls are illegal. Schools, churches and doctors use them to communicate. But, Carr added, “it is no coincidence that the number of robocalls is exploding at the same time there is a similar explosion in scams perpetrated via telephone. The exponential growth in unlawful scam robocalls is putting more and more of our vulnerable populations at risk.”

“Experts in the industry estimated that, by the end of 2018, U.S. consumers would receive a total of 40 billion robocalls, eclipsing the 2017 estimate of 30.5 billion robocalls,” the AGs said in their brief. “Unfortunately, the problem appears to have been even worse than predicted. The industry estimates that 47.8 billion robocalls were made in the U.S. in 2018, a 56.8% increase over 2017. Of these 47.8 billion total estimated robocalls, 37 percent were scams related to health insurance, student loans, easy money scams, tax scams, travel scams, business scams and warranty scams.”

Moody said in a news release, “Earlier this year I urged Congress to take action against illegal robocalls, and now I am advocating for the Federal Communications Commission to further enforce rules against the rapid proliferation of these calls. We must continue to work together to protect consumers from being harassed and scammed by robocalls.”

The AGs asked the FCC to adopt its proposed rules on enforcement against caller ID spoofing on calls to the U.S. originating from overseas, while also addressing spoofing in text messaging and alternative voice services. These provisions are included in the FCC appropriations authorization bill, also known as the RAY BAUM'S Act of 2018. The coalition also offered its continued support of a proactive, multi-pronged approach to battle the “noxious intrusion” of illegal robocalls, as well as malicious caller ID spoofing in voice, alternative voice, and text message services.

The coalition included Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.