AG, Phone companies reach agreement to stop scam calls

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Many of us pick up our phones, and sometimes we receive those annoying scam calls.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear announced Monday that his office, along with 51 Attorney Generals across the U.S., reached an agreement with 12 phone companies to alleviate scam calls.

In May 2019, the Federal Communications Commission sent out a warning forcing the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office to issue a scam alert to Kentuckians about “one ring” phone calls that causes substantial costs in phone bills.

Beshear teamed up with 51 other Attorney Generals in the U.S. sending messages to the Federal Communications Commission for caller ID authentication technology to be implemented by the end of 2019.

This would provide free, default call blocking programs to customers.

It also ensures that phone calls are coming from verified numbers and not unidentified sources.

The 51 Attorney Generals reached an agreement with 12 phone companies last week to stop illegal scam calls.

After the agreement was reached, Beshear put out a statement saying that working to stop illegal scam calls is a top priority for his office.

” I want to see every phone provider offer free call-blocking services and implement technology that can block scam calls,” said Beshear.” If companies won’t voluntarily provide these crucial services, they should be required to.”

In June 2019, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to allow phone companies to use the new technology to block scam calls.

They say the technology allows phone companies to legally block scam calls before they even reach your phone.