A bipartisan coalition of 49 attorneys general is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to adopt more aggressive measures to stop illegal robocalls, specifically targeting the methods scammers use to acquire legitimate telephone numbers. The group's recent efforts aim to cut off access to the phone number supply chains that enable fraudulent calls and texts.
Targeting Number Resale Tactics
Source Indices: 0, 1
In a joint effort revealed in July 2026, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong led a coalition of attorneys general in submitting recommendations to the FCC. The group is responding to proposals released by the FCC in March 2026, which aimed to strengthen existing regulations to combat the growing number of fraudulent calls that impersonate financial companies or government agencies.
Attorney General James stated that New Yorkers are being "flooded with predatory robocalls day after day," creating significant risks to personal information and finances. The coalition's push follows a period where scammers shifted tactics; while they previously used "spoofing" to mimic legitimate callers, they have increasingly turned to purchasing actual, legitimate phone numbers to bypass modern spam filters.
Scale of Financial Fraud
Source Indices: 0, 1
The coalition's primary concern involves the ease with which scammers can cycle through millions of new numbers to avoid detection. According to Attorney General Tong, while spam filters block billions of calls, many more still reach consumers, leading to massive financial losses. He emphasized the need for federal action to hold companies accountable who profit from selling numbers to illegal robocall rings.
Data highlights the scale of the issue: in April 2026 alone, U.S. consumers received approximately 4.2 billion robocalls, averaging about 1,600 calls per second, according to reports from YouMail. Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers lost more than $12.5 billion to various scams in 2024, a figure that includes fraudulent texts and calls.
Proposed Regulatory Enhancements
Source Indices: 0, 1
The attorneys general are specifically requesting that the FCC implement several new regulatory requirements for companies that sell or resell phone numbers. One major recommendation is to require every company authorized to purchase and resell North American phone numbers to meet more stringent certification rules and disclose exactly how and to whom they assign those numbers.
To aid law enforcement, the group is also asking for regular reporting requirements. These reports would allow authorities to trace illegal robocall traffic back to its original source and hold all companies within the call path accountable. Additionally, the coalition wants to prohibit the sale of phone numbers to any entity that is not directly tied to a legitimate calling or texting service.
Preventing Scammer Exploitation
Source Discs: 0, 1
Further recommendations from the coalition include measures to stop "number cycling," a tactic where entities buy large quantities of numbers and use them on a rotating or single-use basis. They also suggested restricting the use of trial numbers to discourage scammers from exploiting temporary access, and requiring all applicants for phone number access to confirm they will not use the numbers for illegal purposes.
Attorney General James also advocated for expanding legal tools available to attorneys general. Specifically, she recommended expanding the definition of telephone number resellers to make it easier to prosecute illegal robocallers under existing law. The coalition also suggested expanding foreign ownership certification requirements for all service providers that sell or assign numbers to prevent scammers from hiding behind shell corporations.
History of Multistate Litigation
Source Indices: 0
The push for new FCC rules follows a history of litigation and multi-state cooperation. In 2022, Attorney General James helped establish the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force to investigate companies responsible for high volumes of robocall traffic. This task force previously sent notices to 37 phone providers in August 2025 regarding fraudulent call routing.
Past legal victories also include a 2023 lawsuit by James against Avid Telecom and its executives for routing billions of illegal calls, as well as a March 2023 victory against conspiracy theorists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who used robocalls to suppress voters during the 2020 election. The current coalition is now building on these efforts by addressing the underlying infrastructure of number distribution.
Broad Bipartisan Support
Source Indices: 0, 1
The bipartisan letter was signed by a wide array of state officials, including the attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, along with the District of Columbia.
