AG Moody Urges FCC for Robotext Protection

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody, in a coalition of 51 attorneys general, is urging the Federal Communications Commission to adopt stronger protections for consumers against illegal robotexts. In 2021, the FCC received more than 15,000 consumer complaints about unwanted texts and the Federal Trade Commission listed text messages as the second most common contact method for scams behind only robocalls. Last year, consumers reported losing $131 million through fraudulent texts. The attorneys general support the FCC’s proposed action that aims to help cut down the intrusive messages by requiring mobile-wireless providers to block texts from invalid, unassigned, or unused numbers, as well as numbers on a Do Not Originate list.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Illegal robotexts are on the rise, with many consumers receiving unwanted messages that may contain malicious links. To combat scammers, I am standing with my fellow attorneys general in support of the FCC’s proposal to require that phone service providers block messages appearing to be from invalid, unallocated or unused numbers.”

Attorneys general work to protect consumers, including fighting to reduce the number of robocalls that plague Americans. Scammers are now shifting toward using robotexts to run the same scams. Just like spam calls, spam texts are irritating and can result in victims losing millions of dollars through phishing texts, imposter scams and links containing ransomware.

In reply comments to the FCC, the attorneys general outline support of the proposal that would require mobile-wireless providers to block text messages at the network level when they are sent from phone numbers that have been added to a Do Not Originate list. Numbers from this list generally are only used to receive text messages from invalid, unallocated or unused phone numbers because such messages are highly likely to be fraudulent. Further, the attorneys general urge the FCC to continue pushing the wireless industry to develop call-authentication technology for text messages. Call-authentication technology for text messages could help consumers identify texts from spoofed numbers, as well as assist law enforcement in tracing illegal messages.

Attorney General Moody is joined by the attorneys general of the following states and territories: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

To view a copy of the letter sent to the FCC, click here.