A new group of laws called the TRACED Act aims to stop those pesky robocalls that torment so many of us on a daily basis. In fact, it’s estimated that the majority of calls to home phones are annoying robocalls, many of them scams. In 2018 alone 48 billion robocalls targeted Americans and we lost almost $10 billion dollars to scammers.
It’s something Republicans, Democrats, and the President all managed to agree on. The bill passed the House and Senate easily and was signed into law by the President. Ohio Congressman Bob Latta was a strong supporter of the legislation.
The new laws will require phone companies to verify and authenticate the numbers for incoming calls to sort out the spam from legitimate calls. Consumers will be able to use a filter for phone calls, similar to a spam filter in email. Many major carriers like AT&T and Verizon have already rolled out the service.
It also gives the Federal Communications Commission the authority to go after scammers the very first time they’re caught breaking the law. The statute of limitations has also been extended to better help catch scammers. Previously, it was only a year.
“Our phones, that connect us to the world should be used for good, not for manipulative and illegal spam calls that have tricked countless people out of time and money”
The TRACED Act takes significant steps to protect consumers from scams and fraud. This is a shining example of when Members of Congress are committed to working together in order to solve real problems facing our country, progress can be made that will better the lives of Americans in every state,
