Kentucky attorney general urges FCC to reduce unwanted texts from fraudulent numbers

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on unwanted text messages from fraudulent numbers.

Cameron joined a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general Monday in asking the FCC to take additional steps to stop scammers.

"As we work with our state and federal partners to crack down on illegal robocalls, scammers are increasingly using text messages to perpetrate scams," Cameron said in a news release Monday. "Today, we asked the FCC to adopt new policies to help us stop scammers from sending unwanted text messages to Kentuckians."

In their letter, the attorneys general support the FCC’s proposed rule, which would require mobile wireless providers to block unlawful text messages at the network level if they originate from invalid, unassigned, or unused numbers, and from numbers on a Do Not Originate list. The coalition also asked the FCC to continue urging the U.S. wireless industry to develop caller ID authentication technology for text messages to protect consumers from text scams and to aid law enforcement in their investigations.

In 2021, the FCC received more than 15,000 complaints about unwanted texts. In 2020, scammers stole more than $86 million through text message scams.