HELENA – There is good news if you are one of the millions of Americans who routinely receive robocalls. New legislation working its way through the U.S. Congress could help stop those calls before they ever get to your phone.

Recently, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox signed a letter along with a coalition of attorneys general across the country calling on Congress to pass the TRACED Act.

The legislation would require telephone providers to use technology to authenticate phone calls and block unwanted calls from getting to your phone.

According to Fox, 48 billion robocalls are made every year.

“The majority of those are scam robocalls…it’s a huge problem.” Fox said.

Fox said in 2017 alone, Americans lost around $290 million from scams related to robocalls.

The TRACED Act would also require an interagency working group of FTC, FCC and other officials to work together to cut down on robocalls.

Fox says said while it may not completely eliminate robocalls, it would help reduce them.

Fox joined a coalition of 54 attorneys general in sending a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to pass the traced act.

“This is something that we’ve been trying to find an angle to do for some time and we think this is the vehicle to do it,” Fox said.

The act is currently working its way through committee. Fox said so far, there has been little to no opposition to the act.

By Jacob Fuhrer – MTN News