Media Contact: Will Wiquist, (202) 418-0509 will.wiquist@fcc.gov For Immediate Release FCC ACTS TO PROTECT CONSUMERS FROM ONE-RING SCAMS Commission Reiterates Its Commitment to Collaborative Enforcement and Consumer Education Activities to Stop Fraudulent and Abusive Robocalling Practices -- WASHINGTON, November 30, 2020—The Federal Communications Commission today made clear that phone companies may block robocalls associated with one-ring scams. The decision implements a portion of the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED Act). In a typical one-ring scam, a consumer is robocalled, often late at night, with the scammer disconnecting after only one-ring to induce the consumer to call back. Despite appearing to come from a domestic United States number, one-ring scam calls generally originate outside the U.S. and consumers who call them back therefore incur toll charges, of which the scammer gets a share. The scam can also rely on phony voicemail messages urging a consumer to call a number that appears to be a U.S. number to “schedule a package delivery” or to notify a consumer about a purportedly “sick relative.” “Today the FCC acts decisively to protect consumers from a particularly pernicious type of robocall: the one-ring scam,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. “In response to a spike in one-ring scam activity, we proactively targeted this problem over a year-and-a-half ago with a consumer advisory and have taken other action to combat this scam. Today’s action is just the latest step to stop illegal calls before they reach consumers’ phones. We are sending bad actors a clear message: We will use all available tools, including those in the TRACED Act, to protect American consumers.” The Commission today also committed to continuing and expanding its collaborative law enforcement and consumer education activities to stop one-ring scams and other fraudulent and abusive robocalling practices. Today’s action builds on the Commission’s continuing efforts to provide phone companies with certainty and safe harbors for blocking unwanted and illegal robocalls, which include the following: · Call Blocking Report and Order: In 2017, the FCC authorized phone companies to block by default calls that appear to originate from invalid, unallocated, or unused numbers and numbers on a Do-Not-Originate list. · Call Blocking Declaratory Ruling: In 2019, the Commission enabled phone companies to automatically enroll new and existing customers in call-blocking services by default if the blocking is based on reasonable analytics designed to identify unwanted calls. · Call Blocking Safe Harbor Report and Order: In July 2020, the Commission gave phone companies greater incentive to block calls by protecting them from liability resulting from the inadvertent blocking of wanted calls in certain cases. For more information on one-ring scams, please visit the FCC’s online consumer guide: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/one-ring-phone-scam. ### Media Relations: (202) 418-0500 / ASL: (844) 432-2275 / / Twitter: @FCC / www.fcc.gov This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).