A look in how the Justice Department can counter robo calls and how Artificial Intelligence. Representatives from Tech Companies offer testimony. 6 every month americans receive 1. 5 billion to 3 billion scam calls and illegal tell ell marketing calls. This is an issue that im confident everyone in the room has dealt with. And those of you who have phones on, im sure you will receive robo calls and texts during this hearing and i wouldnt be surprised if we didnt. They interrupt sleep if you dont put your phone in sleep mode or telling them off. And time with friends and family and even during hearings. If they do, hold your phone up and share with the rest of america what is happening while in this room. They have eroded trust in our Communications Networks. Many have become subject to those fibbing attacks which are causing the American People billions of dollars. And is traced. Goes back to 2019. These protect americans from predatory and unsole is ted robocalls. And as they were implemented, the number of unsole is ted has decreased. Do not call complaints has reduced as well. Not entirely but by some numbers and the federal Communications Commission issued 500 million enforcement action over the last 12 months. The s. E. C. Has empowered the trace back group and phone companies to block by default illegal calls and it provided a statement for todays hearing and without objection, i would like to enter it into the record. However, it is important that we recognize that robo calls and texts are not just a nuisance. Scammers use our networks to defort lauderdale americans out of 39 billion. That was just in 2022 alone and enough to provide broadband to households enrolled in the Connectivity Program for eight years. I hope you understand what that means. Scammers and fly by night companies are stealing the dollars to do so and dont face any consequences. The fines go uncollected and the company dissolves and moves elsewhere. Congress must empower our regulators to ensure that when an individual or company breaks the law, they are held to account. Part of the reason these scammers are effective of tricking consumers and evading enforcement is that the technology is evolving. We will hear testimony that the consumer is increasingly falsified. Bots are using public data to consent on behalf of a consumer for calls they never asked for and do not want. Automated are using chat box and Artificial Intelligence to impersonate a real person lulling into a false sense of security by mannerisms. Bad actors are playing on our emotions and impersonating loved ones in distress. In the Senate Human Rights subcommittee, senator osoff and Ranking Member blackburn, heard testimony from one woman from arizona who was the victim of a scam call impersonating her daughter and i would like to enter her testimony in the record. Hearing none, its entered. She testified that a. I. Is unraveling the foundation of our social fabric and creating doubt and fear in what wasnt questioned. The sound of a loved ones voice. Robocallers and unravel how new and evolving technologies are challenging the landscape and what next steps are needed to protect americans from fraudulent and illegal Text Messages and calls. Im very excited that we have the panel with us today. I will introduce you momentarily. I want to recognize a friend and a leader that is with us today and Ranking Member fisher for her opening comments. Good morning and thank you chairman lujan. The persist taint calls has been a concern. Illegal and spoofed robocalls continue to be the number one consumer complaint. I want to ensure that we have the right tools in place to protect consumers from these our phones give us connection to the world around us. Whether its calling friends, family, appointments or summoning emergency services, they are part of our daily lives. They are part of our identities as well, we use them to verify who we are and hold on to them for decades or sometimes lifetimes. This allows scammers to reach directly into our homes and into our pockets. Bad actors are increasingly savvy in the technologies they use to defraud consumers. This can result in devastating financial losses. Criminals are engaging in more targeted calls and impersonating businesses like banks to steal personal data or commit financial fraud. Phone scams are still yielding the highest reported fraud losses per person, despite the rapid growth of scammers on social media platforms. In fact, fraud losses due to phone scams are higher than ever. According to a recent report, over 68 million americans lost approximately 40 billion to phone scams in 2021 alone. In many ways it feels like we have had this conversation so many times over so many years. Crucially, in 2019, Congress Passed the trace act to put wideranging solutions in motion that would reduce Illegal Robocalls. I commend my colleague, senator thune, for leading this legislation. I was glad to be a cosponsor of it. Previously i also led the spoofing prevention act which senator bill nelson which passed into law in 2018. This law was a foundational effort to increase penalties and boost enforcement tools that fight illegal spoofing. Deterrence through fines for illegal robocall activities is a key part of cracking down on nuisance calls that endanger consumers. On this front, federal agencies, particularly the Justice Department, must improve how they Work Together to ensure that unpaid fines are collected. There are no silver bullets to eradicate the scourge of illegal scam calls and techs. Lawmakers have to remain vigilant and monitor how illegal robocall schemes are evolving. We must be able to empower consumers with the knowledge of who is actually calling them and the ability to block illegal callers. We all share the goal of being able to pick up our phones safely, trusting we know who is going to be on the other end of the line. But we are not there just yet. The industry has made commendable efforts to reduce the prevalence of these illegal calls, including including through advancements in call to authorize them and trace back technology. Statistics from the federally designated Traceback Consortium, i. T. C. , indicate that certain common robocall scams have started to decline over the last couple of years. Continuing this trend will take the united cooperation of all Voice Service providers. As lawmakers we need to maintain this momentum and ensure that traceback efforts are fully supported. I urge the f. C. C. To spend its time and resources to prevent genuine criminal activity and create meaningful safe harbors for businesses acting in good faith compliance with the law. I look forward to hearing from tads witnesses about where we are in this effort and where additional assistance may be needed. Thank you for being here and thank you, chairman lujan. Thank you, senator. I want to thank you again for being with us today. But i want to commend you for your leadership in so many ways. Especially in this case when it comes to robocalls and ro bo texts and what youve been doing to bring support to the American People. Thank you so very much for that. As i introduce the panel, after the introduks well hear from ms. Saunders. Ms. Saunders is the senior attorney from the National Consumer law center. Thank you for being with us today. Ms. Megan brown, with the Cyber Security council. Mr. Josh reco rico, like the city. Industry Traceback Group. Thank you so much as well. And mr. Mike rudolph, chief Technology Officer from umill. Ms. Saunders, we look forward to your Opening Statement for five minutes. Ms. Saunders i appreciate the opportunity to testify today on what needs to be done to protect americans from robocalls. I provide my testimony today on behalf of the lowincome clients of the National Consumer law center and Consumer Federation of america. The current regulatory structure allows criminals access to americans wallets, as you cited billions of dollars stolen every year through scams executed over this nations telephones. At the same time, the combination of scam calls, along with the onslaught of illegal and unwanted telemarketing calls, have damaged our trust in our phones and made it more difficult for legitimate wanted messages to reach us. The f. T. C. Has been trying to solve the problem but to date its methods have not succeeded. In my testimony, you can see a graph of the number of robocalls and telemarketing calls and scam calls over the years and it looks like that unfortunately we are about today where we were in 2019. In terms of the combined number of calls. But either the f. T. C. Does not have sufficient legal tools to stop the calls, or it has not yet determined how to deploy those tools effectively. The commission has issued numerous regulations to implement the traceback. Brought multiple Enforcement Actions against scam callers and their complicit Voice Service providers. Yet the numbers of calls and the losses to americans keep are continuing. The problem is that complicit Voice Service providers responsible for these calls are making money for transmitting them. And as f. C. C. Commissioner jeffrey stark said, quote, Illegal Robocalls will continue as long as those initiating and facilitating them can get away with it and profit from it. End quote. To eliminate these calls, there must be incentives for compliance. Which there are not can be requn emphasis by the f. C. C. The primary goal of the f. C. C. s actions should be to protect the nations telephone subscribers from the scam calls that are stealing billions of dollars. To do that requires a change from ensuring that calls can be completed and protecting Voice Service providers access to telephone numbers telephone networks, toward shielding consumers from these illegal calls. If the f. C. C. Were to adopt a system under which it quickly suspends the ability of a Voice Service provider to participate in the network once that provider is determined to be a repeat offender, we think that would be a magic bullet. This is along the lines of the temporary restraining order procedure established in the federal rules of civil procedure. There are procedures that can be used that we think would change the incentive structure and actually cause a reduction in calls. Additionally, the f. C. C. s current regulation proibts telemarketers from calling our phones without express written consent. Telemarketers routinely ignore the specific requirements of these regulations and make about a billion illegal telemarketing calls every month. Then they defend themselves from government and private enforcement by relying on specious consent agreements that were either completely fabricated or based on supposed consent agreements sold and resold and sold again by lead generators. The f. C. C. Could actually eliminate this entire Business Model by simply reiterating its current regulations. Instead, unfortunately, it has proposed new regulations that are less protective of consumers. In a nutshell, we believe that the f. C. C. Could eliminate most of these illegal calls by changing their current emphasis. In a civilization in which we can take pictures of saturns rings, the failure to solve this problem is not a matter of technology. Its a question of whether the people in power actually want to solve it. Thank you very much. Sen. Lujan the floor is yours for five minutes. Good morning chairman lujan, Ranking Member fisher, my name is megan brown, im a partner in the Telecom MediaTechnology Practice at wily riems. Im here on behalf of the u. S. Chamber of commerce legal reforms. The u. S. Chamber represents the interests of more than three million businesses of all sizes and sectors as well as local chambers and associations. Its institute for legal reform is a division of the chamber that promotes Civil Justice reform at the global, national, state and local levels. Thank you for the opportunity to. The chamber has been involved in robocalling issues for years an offers the perspective of the American Business community which values reliable and trustworthy ways to communicate with customers and the public. That is a highly regulated space with lots of litigation, something the chamber has been vocal about for years because pcpa remains a major source of class action litigation that does little to help consumers. The chamber today would like the committee to consider these points. American businesses support cracking down on illegal and intrusive robocalls. American businesses work hard to comply with these very complex regulations at the federal and state level. They are hurt by caller i. D. Spoofing and fraud against consumers. Because of those harrs companies are fighting back against robocall scams. Marriott did its own investigation into calls misusing its brand. It worked with the Traceback Group and sued malicious robocallers getting an injunction against the Marking Company that placed these calls. U. S. Businesses take law seriously and work hard to comply with it. Second, congress has passed major legislation recently on a bipartisan basis to address Illegal Robocalls. You can ensure your hard work bears fruit by encouraging the department of justice to make robocall scams and illegal spoofing a priority. The federal Communications Commission has taken major steps to implement all of this new congressional direction. I know f. C. C. Staff has been working really hard on these issues. Theyve issued enormous forfeiture orders against bad actors that blatantly break the law and its cease and desist orders have been particularly impact. The federal trade commission has been targeting scams using Illegal Robocalls and texts, and state attorneys general have been tblairng own cases. D. O. J. Is a vital partner here and congress should urge the department to make enforce. A priority by acting on the referrals and by bringing its own cases gregly for violations of laws like this truth in caller i. D. Act but also mail and wire fraud for some of these really egregious scams. Third, unfortunately, the tcpas right of private action continue to fuel a abusive litigation against American Businesses. The institute for legal reform has tracked Lawsuit Abuse for years and the operating environment under the tcpoa continues to hurt businesses and consumers. Class action seeking enormous damages and attorney generals fees and the threat of crushing liability for mistakes creates a challenging environment for American Businesses. An important takeaway here is that the tcpa class actions and large settlements do not address the bad actors that are intentionally violating federal law to send millions of illegal calls. Here i have in mind people like adrian abram vich, john stiller, or the Shell Companies they use to make massive numbers of fraudulent calls. Often pretending to be legitimate American Businesses. Fourth, the chamber knows that some on this committee are considering additional legislation. Congress has been active on robocalling over the past several years and the chamber suggests that if the Committee Goes forward with legislation it should also consider modest but important changes that would limb the abuse of our judicial system for class actions that do not stop bad actors in. Sum the chamber appreciates the committees attention to these issues as well as the hard work to the f. C. C. And other panelists here to go after bad actors that steal corporate good will and harm consumers. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. Sen. Lujan thank you for your testimony. The floor is yours. I am the executive director of the industry Traceback Group. I serve at the broadband association. U. S. Telecom established the i. T. C. To i. T. G. To address the robocall problem. We are proud to support the f. C. C. , f. T. C. , d. O. J. , state attorneys general and others to stop Illegal Robocalls. Im pleased to be here today to discuss the collective effort and how congress can bolster it. As i explained in my written testimony, various tech in logical and economic changes have made it cheap and easy for bad oklahoma tors actors to call American Consumers from anywhere in the world. All anyone needs to initiate robocalls is a computer, associated software and a website. In the past, providers had no way to know the true origin of the calls. Industry tracebook addressed that by piecing together the entire path of any given suspicious call regardless of the number of providers involved. We obtain within a day or two the same information that would take enforce. Agencies months to get. And virtually all the data we get makes its way to those enforcement agencies. Thanks to inch t. G. Data, federal and state agencies are bringing more Enforcement Actions than ever before and these efforts are working. For example, on data from my colle