Government officials, legislators, industry leaders and consumer advocates are exploring ways to crack down on violators of the federal and state Do Not Call lists in a series of roundtables around the state.
The state Attorney General’s office has already received more Do Not Call complaints through the first eight months of this year than all of last year. And the AG’s office says around half of those complaints can’t be pursued for a variety of reasons. Some of the calls come from fake phone numbers, for example, or originate outside the United States.
Marguerite Sweeney, Indiana’s Section Chief of Telephone Privacy, says about 70% of the complaints are scams.
“Those telemarketers are not interested in following Do Not Call laws or buying the Do Not Call list and therefore we need to find some other way to fight them.”
William Maxson, Federal Trade Commission Program Manager, says the federal and state governments need to work together to tackle the problem.
“The FTC brings a significant number of enforcement actions. We have a significant number of investigations and other matters ongoing, but the states bringing their own suits against these companies is an integral part of it.”
The federal government is hosting a Do Not Call and robo-call summit in October. Roundtable discussions are taking place over the next week in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Evansville.
