It’s a safe bet that you have received a robocall trying to get you to buy something, give personal information, or even send money. California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta wants to change those odds.
California’s Department of Justice cites data showing that in 2021, nearly $30 billion was stolen through scam calls and Americans get over 33 million robocalls daily.
“Robocalls are very annoying at the least and very detrimental in many ways at worst,” said Bonta who admits that he too gets quite annoyed by them in more ways than one, “They can result in people losing millions of dollars and they through phishing text or imposter scams or links can contain ransomware.”
The Attorney General is part of the Anti-Robocall Litigation Taskforce. A nationwide initiative that takes legal action against telecommunication companies responsible for foreign robocalls coming into the United States. The task force is in full support of the Federal Communications Commission’s strategies to reduce, if not eliminate, these calls as well as robotexts.
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“To require mobile wireless to block illegal texts and phone numbers that are invalid, unused or found on a do not originate list,” said Bonta.
He adds that it’s also important to get the word out.
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“I try to share that with my family and loved ones because I don't want them to be victims as well. Especially, my 85-year-old mother who is very trusting," he said.
Here are a few tips to keep some of these calls away from your phone and reduce the potential of falling for a scam.
- Register your number in the Do Not Call Registry with the FTC. It stops legal robocalls from calling
- Ignore links from unexpected texts as they could contain malware or send you to a page designed to steal your information and/or money.
- Be suspicious of imposter calls that pretend to be from a government agency threatening you with arrests or fines.
- Don’t give out any personal information like your social security number to anyone calling you at random
- Don’t send any money, especially if you’re pressured to do so via gift cards.
Another good trick is also just to let an unknown call or potential scam call just go to voicemail. That way, you could check it later and take time to better assess the legitimacy of the call.
