FCC threatens to block spammy VOIP services

I can’t go a week without someone illegally calling me about a small business loan or car insurance, and despite coming from a local phone number, I’m fairly certain they aren’t from around here.

Such spammers are usually using Voice over IP (VOIP) to fake phone numbers, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is as fed up as the rest of us. It’s threatening to shut down thousands of VOIP services.

In a press release issued yesterday, the FCC says 2,411 of these providers “failed to properly file in the Robocall Mitigation database, and must now show cause why they should not be removed.” In other words, these VOIP companies are lightning rods for spammers using their services to spread illegal calls, and they’ve ignored federally mandated action to stop spammers from pestering and scamming Americans.

The FCC’s authority over conventional phone calls is basically absolute, and this action was taken in partnership with attorneys general from every US state and Washington DC. If you’re a company providing call service, whether over standard networks or Voice over IP, you have to comply with the STIR/SHAKEN protocol for caller ID verification and you have to send the FCC a robocall mitigation plan. The FCC alleges that these companies have failed on both counts and missed multiple deadlines for compliance checks.

The press release also outlines new proposed rules to create stricter fines for fake or outdated info in the call provider database, among other administrative actions. Given the typical timeframe for new rule implementation, it seems unlikely that they’ll be put in place before the second Trump administration affects its own business-friendly changes to the federal agency.

Even if the FCC had 10 times its current capability, it couldn’t completely stop spam calls, especially since most of them originate from other countries where its jurisdiction is limited. But making it harder for spammers to use US-based services is an effective deterrent, if only because it makes trivially easy robocall campaigns that much harder.

At the very least, shutting down domestic businesses that profit off the scummiest of practices — annoying and scamming their fellow Americans — seems like the right thing to do.