Attorney General Lynn Fitch last week announced the launch of “Operation Robocall Roundup,” a multistate effort intended to reduce the incidence of annoying automated telephone calls that we get from time to time.
Many people, particularly those of us who work in an office environment, probably receive more than enough email, instant messages, cellphone calls, text messages and walk-in traffic to keep our days interesting.
Lump in landline telephone calls and notifications from apps that we have on our cellphones and the number of possible daily interactions, aka interruptions, grows.
Businesses appreciate hearing from customers. We need to hear from them, whether during regular commerce or for other reasons.
By the same token, most people enjoy a few conversations or “visits” during their day, hermits probably being an exception.
But even hermits, if they have a telephone, likely get the occasional robocall.
So, kudos to Fitch and all other state attorneys general around the nation — members of an Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force formed in 2022 — for efforts to slow the illegal robocall traffic.
In a news release, Fitch said in June alone, more than 4.5 billion robocalls were made to people nationwide. On average, people got more than 13 robocalls daily.
Unwanted and unwelcome phone calls from telemarketers can really be a nuisance. However, I realize that some of the callers are from legitimate businesses and the person on the other end is just earning a paycheck and not trying to bilk anyone. Sometimes, I even politely listen — though only for a brief time.
The actual living, breathing people who call can be bothersome, but they are not as frustrating as those blasted robocallers. Some robocalls employ such cunning tactics as realistic-sounding voices with pauses that mimic a polite greeting at the start of the call — before plunging headlong into their spiel.
Telemarketing, even robocalls, have been around for decades. But the technology used today is vastly superior — that is, far more dangerous. Callers may mask their identity so your caller ID shows a local name or phone number — perhaps that of someone you know or a local entity you trust — when, in fact, that call is coming from someone halfway around the world. Spoofing has become a favorite tactic of con artists.
Those scoundrels, in particular, need to be rounded up.
