FCC TAKES ACTION TO PROTECT AMERICAN CONSUMERS FROM ONE-RING PHONE SCAMS

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Media Contact:
Will Wiquist, (202) 418-0509
will.wiquist@fcc.gov
For Immediate Release


FCC TAKES ACTION TO PROTECT AMERICAN CONSUMERS FROM ONE-RING PHONE SCAMS
Foreign Robocallers Try to Prompt Pricey Callbacks from American Consumers
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-364034A1.pdf



WASHINGTON, April 28, 2020—The Federal Communications Commission today issued a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking aimed at better protecting Americans from one-ring scam
calls. One-ring scam calls occur when a call placed to a consumer’s phone rings just once,
using international toll-generating numbers that charge large fees per minute when consumers
call back. The FCC’s proposal is the latest step to address this problem; it follows a consumer
alert the agency issued in May 2019 and implements one section of the recently passed
Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act
(TRACED Act).

“One-ring scams are annoying and pernicious, waking up many Americans with confusing
calls in the middle of the night and tricking them out of their money if they call back,” said
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “With this effort, this agency shows it’s serious about aggressively
combating this scam. I look forward to hearing from the public about their ideas for putting an
end to this. And in the meantime, I urge them not to call back if they get calls like this.”

One-ring scammers call American consumers from a foreign country with a number that
appears to come from the United States. After a single ring, the scammer hangs up, enticing
the consumer to return the “missed call.” Scammers may also leave consumers a voice mail
message with a false pretext for the consumer to call them back. In either instance, U.S.
consumers incur significant phone charges (of which the scammer gets a share) when they
return the international call. Callers often call in the middle of the night and may call multiple
times in a row in order to create an appearance of urgency while trying to ensure the call is not
answered.

Last year, the Commission issued a consumer alert with tips for consumers to protect
themselves. The FCC also advises consumers to not answer or return any calls from numbers
they do not recognize, to check whether an unfamiliar number has an international area code
before returning the call, and to ask their phone company to block outgoing international calls
if they do not make such calls.

In this NPRM, the FCC seeks comment on proposals for implementing the TRACED Act’s
requirements to further protect consumers from the one-ring scam, including: allowing voice
service providers to block calls highly likely to be associated with a one-ring scam; working
with federal, state, and foreign law enforcement and government agencies to combat one-ring
scams; building on existing consumer education and outreach efforts; enhancing FCC work
with entities that provide call-blocking services; and seeking consensus on what obligations
international gateway providers should have in the efforts to stop these calls.

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission recently sent letters to
three gateway providers suspected of facilitating COVID-19-related scam robocalls, warning
them that if they did not stop such traffic, the Commission would authorize other U.S. voice
service providers to block all calls entering the U.S. via these gateway providers. Within 24
hours, those gateway providers stopped carrying those scam robocalls. The NPRM seeks
comment on whether such a model could be extended to combat one-ring scam calls.


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This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.
Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).