Virginia joins multistate task force effort to curb illegal robocall traffic

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is putting his foot down to curb illegal robocall traffic.

Miyares is a member of the 51-attorney general Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, which has been investigating a group of voice service providers that they have been transmitting suspected illegal robocall traffic on their networks.

The task force has informed the providers that it has shared the findings of its investigations with the FCC, which will consider appropriate next steps

Attorney General Jason Miyares today warned four voice service providers that they have been transmitting suspected illegal robocall traffic on their networks on behalf of one or more of their customers.

“Voice service providers have a duty to protect consumers from illegal robocalls that disrupt their lives and compromise their privacy,” Miyares said. “If these companies continue to allow illegal robocallers to weaponize their networks and fail to meet their legal obligations, they will have to answer for it and face serious consequences. Virginians deserve better, and we are committed to protecting our consumers from obnoxious, unlawful robocalling.”

The task force sent letters to four companies warning them that if they continue to transmit robocalls and violate state and federal laws, the task force may pursue further legal actions against these companies and their owners.

Copies of the warning letters are available here.

VSPs receiving warning letters

• KWK Communications Inc.: KWK Communications received at least 129 traceback notices from the industry traceback group between 2020 and 2022, which included high volumes of calls associated with IRS and Social Security Administration scams, auto warranty scams, and utilities scams. In just one month in 2022, KWK allegedly routed more than 20,000 calls with illegally spoofed telephone numbers and more than 8.7 million calls made using invalid Caller ID numbers.
• Inbound Inc.: Inbound received at least 63 traceback notices between 2021 and 2022, including many about calls that involved imposter scams. Inbound is also estimated to have allegedly routed more than 28.4 million DirecTV and cable discount scam robocalls in a single month in 2022. The FTC previously issued a cease-and-desist demand to Inbound over these scam calls.
• AKA Management Inc.: AKA received at least 129 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022, including about calls that were government imposter scams and tech support scams. AKA is also estimated to have allegedly routed about 12.1 million Amazon and Apple imposter robocalls to consumers in a single month in 2022.
• CallVox LLC: CallVox received more than 47 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022 warning of unlawful or suspicious robocalls that it helped move into and through the U.S. telephone network, including thousands of calls to people who were registered on the Do Not Call list and calls placed using illegally spoofed telephone numbers.