— Attorney General Josh Stein announced this week he's joining 39 other attorneys general in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to take stronger action against "spoofing" robocallers.

Stein, a Democrat, said the bipartisan group has filed a formal comment with the FCC, seeking new rules that would allow phone service providers to use new technologies to block illegal and unwanted robocalls, which are often made by scammers trying to trick people out of money.

According to Stein, phone scammers have come up with new tactics to avoid having their calls blocked. One, called "spoofing," uses fake caller ID numbers to let calls get through blocking software.

"Neighbor spoofing" is a recent twist that makes spam and scam calls appear to be coming from a consumer's local area code, increasing the chances the consumer will answer them. In some cases, the calls can even appear to be coming from the consumer's own phone number.

"Robocalls are not only extremely annoying, they’re also a way to scam North Carolinians, including seniors and other vulnerable people, out of their hard-earned money," Stein said in a statement. "That is why I am calling on the FCC to create new rules that will allow telephone service providers to block illegal robocalls."

According to the Attorney General's Office, complaints about robocalls and telephone scams are at or near the top of the list of consumer complaints they receive every year.

The comment filed by the group cites a study that estimates U.S. landline and wireless subscribers received 30.5 billion illegal robocalls in 2017, and scammers who made many of those calls are estimated to have bilked consumers out of more than $9 billion last year alone.