The American Bankers Association today expressed its support for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s decision to schedule a vote on issuing a proposal that would impose stronger “know your customer” requirements on voice service providers that originate calls. In prior comments, ABA had urged the FCC to take this step.
Existing FCC rules require each originating provider to take “affirmative, effective measures” to prevent callers from originating illegal calls, “including knowing its customers.” But the commission has not mandated specific standards for compliance with this rule. ABA recently shared with the FCC data that showed how bad actors are increasingly placing illegally spoofed calls in part because some providers are not adequately investigating companies before they are permitted to originate calls on the provider’s network.
“The analysis conducted for ABA . . . strongly suggests that requiring originating providers to collect certain information — and imposing forfeitures for violations of the FCC’s rules — would lead providers to investigate callers and avoid doing business with criminals who seek to defraud consumers through illegal calls,” ABA said in its letter.
