Robocall bill becomes law
By Carin R. Kirkegaard
How many times has the phone number of an incoming phone call looked suspiciously familiar? Maybe the prefix is the same as yours, or maybe it is even exactly the same number as your spouse’s phone number. When you answer though, it is a telemarketer. This tactic is called “spoofing,” and with the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement Deterrence Act (TRACED) recently voted into law, these calls should stop.
“Every Coloradan knows the frustration of being inundated with incessant robocalls, and this new law will help end this illegal practice,” stated co-sponsor of the bill Colorado Senator Cory Gardner.
TRACED requires phone companies to implement a system that would authenticate and verify phone calls to ensure that the calls are legitimate. Additionally, fines on individuals who are found to have knowingly attempted or succeeded in spoofing phone calls will increase. Finally, the new law requires the attorney general to convene an interagency working group to improve coordination between federal agencies focused on reigning in robocall scams.
In 2019, YouMail, a robocall blocking software, estimated that Coloradans received 73.6 million robocalls in the month of March alone. That was an increase of nearly 140% over the past two years and was the equivalent of 2.4 million calls per day, nearly 99,000 calls per hour and just over 27 calls per second.
