Attorney General Alan Wilson has announced the beginning of Phase 2 in Operation Robocall Roundup, an initiative targeting illegal robocalls. The latest phase expands efforts to include four major voice service providers: Inteliquent, Bandwidth, Lumen, and Peerless. These companies have been directed by the bipartisan Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force to stop transmitting suspected illegal robocalls through their networks.
“These robocalls aren’t just annoying, they’re illegal. People are sick and tired of them, and I’m working with attorneys general around the country to go after the companies responsible,” said Attorney General Wilson. “These robocalls are usually scams that victimize South Carolinians and people across the country.”
The Task Force had previously sent warning letters in August to 37 smaller voice providers accused of allowing illegal robocalls onto U.S. telephone networks. The current focus shifts to larger companies with a significant presence in telecommunications. Data from industry traceback notices shows these four providers have received thousands of alerts since 2019 for transmitting calls linked to suspected scam campaigns such as fake Amazon, Apple, Social Security Administration (SSA), or Internal Revenue Service (IRS) calls.
According to figures provided by the Attorney General’s office, Inteliquent received 9,712 traceback notices since 2019 and is estimated to have transmitted 450 million Amazon/Apple imposter calls and over 1.4 billion SSA/IRS imposter calls during a three-to-four-year period. Bandwidth received more than 3,000 notices with estimates of over 160 million Amazon/Apple imposter calls and more than 300 million SSA/IRS related scam calls in a similar timeframe. Peerless and Lumen also routed hundreds of millions of suspected scam calls through their systems.
Larger telecom providers are considered to have greater responsibility for preventing repeat bad actors from using their networks for fraudulent activity. Despite repeated warnings and documented evidence from industry investigations, these four companies reportedly continue routing large volumes of suspicious robocall traffic into American homes.
Reflecting on earlier efforts against smaller carriers during Phase 1 of Operation Robocall Roundup, Wilson noted positive developments: “We’re all sick and tired of these robocalls, and you can see from those numbers what we’re fighting against. But our efforts so far are reducing that volume, and we expect our continued work to bring it down even further.”
The Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force was established in 2022 by a coalition of attorneys general from across the United States to investigate and take legal action against entities responsible for significant volumes of fraudulent or illegal call traffic nationwide.
