Wisconsin joins national robocall crackdown

Listen to this article

Wisconsin has joined with 50 other attorney generals to crack down on robocalls across the country.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul joined the Operation Robocall Roundup, a multistate effort by the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force. The task force sent warning letters to 37 voice providers demanding that they act now to stop allegedly illegal robocalls from being routed through their networks. The task force also sent letters to 99 downstream providers that accept call traffic from these companies.

“Wisconsinites shouldn’t have to receive so many irritating robocalls. We remain committed to working to decrease the number of these calls,” Kaul said.

Voice providers must comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements related to robocall mitigation, such as responding to government traceback requests, registering in the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Databases, or filing a plan that describes how they will reduce illegal robocalls on their network. When companies disregard these rules, robocalls are allowed onto their phone networks and then are passed on to other downstream providers until they reach the phones of consumers.

The Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force was launched in 2022 by 51 attorneys general to investigate and take legal action against companies responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic routed into and across the United States.

Congress has passed several laws aimed at strengthening the FCC’s power to crack down on robocallers.