CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey has joined 48 other attorneys general in urging the Federal Communications Commission to strengthen measures aimed at cutting off scammers’ access to legitimate phone numbers used in illegal robocalls.
The bipartisan coalition is responding to the FCC’s proposed rules following earlier recommendations from the Anti‑Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force. The group first asked the commission to address the issue in 2021.
“These recommendations will help cut down on robocalls that are not only annoying, they’re also dangerous,” McCuskey said. “Every day, people fall victim to scams through robocalls. I will do everything in my power to help combat these scammers and stop as many calls as possible.”
Americans received an estimated 29.6 billion scam robocalls and texts last year, losing nearly $2 billion to fraud. While federal and state actions have reduced illegal “spoofing,” scammers now often buy legitimate phone numbers and cycle through them to evade detection.
The attorneys general are asking the FCC to require companies that sell or resell phone numbers to meet stricter certification standards, report how numbers are assigned, and regularly submit data to help law enforcement trace illegal calls. They also want to block sales to entities not tied to legitimate calling services, prohibit number cycling, and restrict the use of trial numbers that scammers exploit.
McCuskey signed the letter alongside attorneys general from 48 states and territories, including Alabama, Alaska, California, New York, Texas, and Virginia.
