FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has proposed a new rule that would require carriers to block illegal text messages, including “robotexts,” to defend people from scammers.
The FCC says it received 14,000 complaints about unwanted text messages in 2020—a 148% increase from the year before. It’s received 9,800 complaints so far in 2021. (Which could indicate either that these unwanted messages are declining or that people have stopped believing the commission will actually do something about the problem.) Many of these messages appear to be robotexts used to target wireless customers with scams.
“We’ve seen a rise in scammers trying to take advantage of our trust of text messages by sending bogus robotexts that try to trick consumers to share sensitive information or click on malicious links,” says Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel. “It’s time we take steps to confront this latest wave of fraud and identify how mobile carriers can block these automated messages before they have the opportunity to cause any harm.”
The proposal needs to be adopted by the full committee, which would then “explore steps to protect consumers from illegal robotexts, including network level blocking and applying caller authentication standards to text messaging.”
The FCC has introduced similar rules for robocalls (which have been haunting phone owners far longer than their text-based counterparts) and calls that spoof the originating phone number. Robocalls and robotexts both allow scammers to reach as many people as possible with very little effort, which makes it easier for them to find people susceptible to their scheme. It’s not about coming up with the perfect scam; it’s about increasing the odds of finding the ideal victim.
The commission also said in September that it would address SIM-swapping attacks, which can be used to gain access to a victim’s text messages. It’s also helping telecommunications companies remove Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks, too, over fears those devices can be used to spy on American citizens.
