The Oregon Department of Justice is cracking down on illegal robocalls as part of the Federal Trade Commission’s “Operation Call it Quits.”

In late June, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum tweeted that the department had sent six “cease and desist letters to businesses operating in Oregon who may be violating the Do Not Call List.”

The letters, sent to The Oregonian/OregonLive by the Oregon Department of Justice, asked companies with complaints of calling people on the list to review practices and “take appropriate steps to ensure that the company and any third-party telemarketing providers that the company retains. Fully comply with applicable state and federal laws.”

Three of the companies who received these letters said, in official responses and on an outgoing voicemail, that they were the targets of scammers “spoofing” their numbers, using their business names to call people.

“As for the spoofing technology, we don’t always know and consumers may not know either,” Kristina Edmunson, spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice, said. “That is why we sent these reminders to companies about what Oregon’s law requires.”

“Today’s scammers can be technologically savvy and can spoof the phone numbers of real companies, and also appear to be impersonating the companies in actual calls,” Edmunson continued. “This is one reason state AGs have asked the FCC to adopt stronger anti-spoofing rules and to increase enforcement since so many of the scam robocalls originate from overseas.”

Oregon is just one front in the war against illegal robocalls. On Wednesday, the House of Representative approved the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act.

According to The Verge, “the bill would make it easier for the government to impose tougher penalties on illegal robocallers and fraudsters and demand that carriers deploy call authentication tech like SHAKEN/STIR at a faster pace.”

So who are the businesses Oregon sent letters to and how did they respond to the allegations?

Renewal by Andersen of Portland

Renewal by Andersen of Portland is a window and door replacement company located on Southwest Boones Ferry Road.

Renewal by Andersen of Portland did not respond to a request for comment.

Tru Blue Pay

Tru Blue Pay is a company that offers “payment processing tools” and “merchant services” located on Southwest Salmon Street.

Tru Blue Pay did not respond to a request for comment.

Velocity, LLC

Velocity is “a marketing and finance solutions company” located on Southwest Greenburg Road.

Velocity did not respond to a request for comment.

Be Safe At Home Inc.

Be Safe At Home is located in Long Island, New York. However, Edmunson said, “We did confirm that the complaints about calls were from Oregon.”

An outgoing message on the Be Safe At Home voicemail said that there were robocalls being sent out in their name. “If you get a call,” the message continued, “please hang up do not give personal information. Call the FCC. We area victim as well as anybody getting these phone calls. Please take our apology that they are using our name.”

Yelp, Inc.

Yelp is the popular business rating website based out of San Francisco.

“Yelp does not make robocalls, and Yelp works hard to ensure that its sales calls comply with all applicable laws and regulations,” the company’s lawyer, Brian Wang, said in response to the Department of Justice. “Sales calls from Yelp are made by live salespeople who only contact businesses listed on Yelp through publicly provided business numbers or other numbers that Yelp has obtained consent to call. Yelp is aware that fraudsters have been impersonating Yelp and other well-known companies while making deceptive robocalls.”

“We did have a follow-up conversation with Yelp,” Edmunson said, “and they have been very cooperative, and want to make sure they have not been spoofed.”

Bloodworks Northwest

Bloodworks Northwest “collects, tests and distributes lifesaving blood to more than 90 hospitals in the Northwest.” They are headquartered in Seattle.

“We checked the federal and state laws cited in your letter, and do not believe any violation of law has occurred,” a letter to the Department of Justice from Thomas Sterken of the law firm that represents Bloodworks Northwest, said. “These laws are primarily directed at commercial solicitations (e.g., for purchases of goods and services) and generally do not apply to charitable, nonprofit solicitations of donors by charitable organizations like Bloodworks.”

“Bloodworks does not engage in robocalling and has procedures intended to ensure that the company, its employees, volunteers and contractors comply with applicable federal and state laws and regulations when soliciting blood donations,” the letter continued. “We understand there was a ‘spoofing’ incident last year when some people received calls that were not from the company.”

The letter goes on to say that Bloodworks is investigating the allegations of illegal robocalls and looking into its practices, “and will take appropriate steps to ensure that the company, and if applicable, any third-party telemarketing provider that it retains and community volunteers, fully comply with applicable federal and state laws and regulations.”

“Further,” the letter continues, “as suggested in your letter, Bloodworks will “scrub” its telemarketing and ADAV call lists against the Oregon portion of the National DNC Registry before placing further calls in Oregon, to remove all National DNC Registry subscribers unless the company reasonably determines that the individual qualifies for an exception under the Oregon law.”