FCC Acts To Confront 'IRS Debt' Scam Robocalls and Malicious Caller-ID Spoofing

In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Federal Communications Commission is seeking comment on rules that would codify the “Do-Not-Originate” initiative proposed by the FCC and launched by the industry strike force, allowing the effort to continue to grow and help more consumers. The proposed rules would allow carriers to block spoofed caller ID numbers associated with phone lines that do not actually dial out, without running afoul of FCC rules requiring carriers to complete all calls. A test of this concept, conducted by Strike Force members with the FCC’s permission, reduced IRS scam calls by about 90 percent in the third quarter of 2016.