Democratic presidential primary contender Andrew Yang hates robocalls as much as you do.

Unwanted calls, including illegal and spoofed robocalls, are the top consumer complaint to the Federal Communications Commission. Among Yang’s extensive list of policy proposals is a plan to ban robocalls, if elected president in 2020.

Earlier this year, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined 42 other state attorneys general in urging the FCC to adopt rules cracking down on illegal robocalls and malicious caller ID spoofing. Nessel said it’s time to “bring the sword down upon all scammers."

Yang’s proposal is pretty straight forward: If you receive a robocall that wasted your time, forward the number to an FCC tip line. The FCC would follow up with the company that called you, and issue fines if numerous complaints are received about a particular company are received.

“It’s ridiculous that companies can call us all day every day pitching us unwelcome services, particularly when the calls are automated,” the policy states. “Our time is the most valuable resource we have. Companies need to value our time the same way that we do. If you call me you’d better be human.”

I just got another robocall - I’d ban them as President. We have more important things to do and our time is more valuable than to be bombarded with robocalls of no interest to us. https://t.co/pffVQEAgJl — Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) July 8, 2019

Yang is among a crowded field of Democrats vying for their party’s nomination in 2020. Though he has never held public office, a recent poll from Emerson College showed support for Yang is roughly 3%, putting him among the top 10 of Democrats.

The number of robocalls may be increasing, according to the FCC.

The number of complaints about unwanted calls, including robocalls and telemarketing calls, increased between 172,000 complaints in 2015 to 232,000 complaints in 2018. Do Not Call complaints increased from 3.6 million to 5.7 million during the same time period.

A letter submitted by Nessel and other attorneys general estimates U.S. consumers received nearly 48 billion robocalls in 2018, of which Michiganders received 1.2 billion.

In 2018, telemarketing and robocall scams were second-highest on the top 10 list of consumer complaints to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has referred to illegal robocalls as a “scourge."

Many legitimate businesses and institutions use robocalls to convey information to customers in a cost-effective manner. Robocalls can reach large numbers of people quickly, which makes robocalls appealing to scammers, according to a 2019 FCC report.

When their phone rings, consumers don’t have much information to determine whether the call is a scammer. Caller ID can be spoofed or blocked, so the only way to determine whether a call is wanted or unwanted is to answer it or let it go to voicemail, according to the FCC.

Caller ID showing a local number no longer means it is necessarily a local caller.

The commission has taken several actions to reduce robocalls, including fining telemarketers, adopting new rules allowing phone companies to proactively block scam calls, find ways to better authenticate callers and reducing unwanted calls to reassigned numbers.

The FCC recommends letting unknown numbers go to voice mail. If a caller claims to be from a legitimate organization, hang up and call them back using a valid number found on their website.

If you receive a scam call, file a complaint with the FCC Consumer Complaint Center by selecting the “phone” option and selecting “unwanted calls.”