Federal Communications Commission Consumer Bureau on Midwest Tour

BEATRICE – Federal Communications Commission representatives are wrapping up half of a two-state rural tour. Their stop in Beatrice yesterday at the public library was the final one in Nebraska, before the tour moves into Kansas.
Eduard Bartholme is the Associate Bureau Chief for the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Division at the F.C.C. In the Nebraska sessions that have been held, one concern has repeatedly come up.

"People are concerned about robocalls. We know that Nebraskans got seventeen and a half million robocalls just last month, alone....and we're hearing that from folks. So, we've been talking to them about tools and tips they can take advantage of, to try to block some of those calls coming to their devices", Bartholme said.
Bartholme says the FCC has taken a couple of steps to address the growth of robocalls. One is to empower carriers to block such calls, by default…at the network level.
"We're also working on something called caller I.D. authentication, and that's a trust system that consumers can trust that the caller identification information that they see, is actually who the call is coming from. There's spoofing, where it looks like your neighbor's calling...that caller I.D. authentication is designed to stop that problem".

Local law enforcement receives a lot of reports of suspected scam attempts by telephone and in some cases, persons have personal information stolen, or have lost money. Bartholme says every age demographic is susceptible, though the older population tends to lose more money each time a scam is conducted.
Bartholme says keeping people from becoming victims takes a collective effort.

He says, "it's talking to people around you, it's talking to people you know, it's working with clerks at stores who are selling gift cards, which is a common way people end up losing money. Just sharing the word around the community to better educate folks. One of the things we have on our website is called a scam glossary. It lists over fifty different types of phone scams in alphabetical order, with a two-sentence blurb on each one. You can link to find more. What we've added recently is audio from actual scam phone calls, so ....some people learn by hearing better, so you can listen to that scam as opposed to just reading about it. You can get a feel for what it is going to be like when the call comes to you".
Enforcing the law against scammers can be difficult, though one recent scam in India where the Federal Trade Commission brought down an IRS call center scam ring, is notable.

The FCC is a civil enforcement agency, but also works with criminal prosecutors in the Department of Justice, the FTC and attorneys general of the states.
Bartholme says the FCC has an informal complaint center that can take consumer complaints by phone or online.
"...somewhat unique in the federal space in that we actually serve individual complaints. We don't just collect them and aggregate them together. We serve them on the company the complaint is about. So, if you do have a problem, you can come to the FCC and we will work with you and the service provider, to come to a resolution."

The complaint reporting address is….
consumercomplaints.fcc.gov

The FCC rural tour’s stops in Kansas start Friday with a visit to Marysville.