BRIAN SCHATZ HART BUILDING HAWAII SUITE SH-722 WASHINGTON, DC 20510-1105 (202) 224-3934 300 ALA MOANA BOULEVARD \inittd ~tatrs ~matt ROOM 7-212 HONOLULU, HI 96850 (808) 523-2061 December 19, 2022 955 The Honorable Jessica Rosenworcel Chair Federal Communications Commission 45 L Street, NE Washington, D.C. 20554 Dear Chair Rosenworcel, I am writing to thank you for your work to fight the surge in robotext scams and to urge the FCC to continue doing all it can to protect Americans from illegal and unwanted text messages. Robotexts are a particularly dangerous avenue for scams and fraud, costing the American people more than more than $131 million in 2021 alone.1 The FCC must do everything in its power to protect the public from robotext scams. The proposals in your Notice of Proposed Rulemaking are the types of steps we need in continuing to battle robotext scams.2 By building on your work countering robocalls, you can ensure that no one ever receives texts from numbers that are invalid, unallocated, unused, or on a Do-Not- Originate (DNO) list. Texts from these numbers are surely illegal or unwanted, and it makes sense that mobile wireless carriers should block them. Similarly, you can close the door to scammers spoofing legitimate numbers by ensuring robust ID authentication for text messages, similar to the protocol used for phone calls. These types of actions would not only allow Americans to know if the messages they are getting are from illegitimate or spoofed numbers but would also aid law enforcement in investigating the bad actors behind these messages. I also ask that you press industry to use every tool it can to help you solve this problem of robotext scams and that you use the fullest extent of your enforcement authorities, including coordination with law enforcement. It is important to remember that while robotexts are automated, illegal robotext scams are perpetrated by malicious actors who are attempting to defraud and scam vulnerable Americans. The criminals behind robotext scams should face the consequences of their actions. One important component to fighting these criminals is exploring better ways to track the scale of the problem and measure the benefits of the solutions you adopt. I also encourage the 1 Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2021 at 12 (2022), bit.ly/3WjTB38. 2 FCC, Targeting and Eliminating Unlawful Text Messages, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 87 Fed. Reg. 61271 (2022). FCC to ensure mobile wireless carriers work with you and law enforcement agencies to the fullest extent of their capabilities to report all information they have about robotext scam activities so that we can stop these criminals. The FCC has the requisite authority and ability to continue leading the battle against the surge in illegal and unwanted text messages. I ask you to use this authority and help protect Americans from scams and fraud. Thank you for your leadership and I look forward to working with you on this important issue. Sincerely, BRIAN SCHATZ U.S. Senator Page 2 of 2