LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced that her office has seen a reduction in the number of robocall complaints.
In 2018, Michigan residents filed 197,420 robocall complaints. In 2022, 98,720 complaints were filed.
Nessel credited her Robocall Task Force, along with an increase in the number of people registered on the “Do Not Call List,” for the drop in complaints.
“This report shows that our efforts to reduce robocalls and robotexts targeting Michigan residents are working,” said Nessel. “Once we began to hold bad actors accountable who knowingly route illegal robocalls through their networks, we saw a demonstratable decrease in calls. This tells us that regulatory intervention – or the fear of it – can help to stop these companies in their tracks.”
Since she took office, Nessel has worked with state and federal partners to reduce the number of illegal robocalls. Recently, she joined a coalition of state attorneys general that is calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clarify the rules requiring telemarketers to obtain consent from a consumer before making robocalls.
Nessel has also joined a multistate lawsuit against Avid Telecom for allegedly initiating and facilitating billions of illegal robocalls to millions of people and violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rules, and other federal and state telemarketing and consumer laws.
She has also joined the efforts to cut down on unwanted text messages by supporting the FCC’s proposal to require wireless providers to block texts from invalid, unassigned, or unused numbers and from numbers on a Do Not Originate List.
In 2020, Nessel and the Department of Attorney General filed criminal charges against Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, who orchestrated a series of robocalls aimed at suppressing the vote in the 2020 presidential election. The two men have been charged with intimidating voters and conspiracy to commit an election law violation, among other felonies. In March 2023, she won judgments shutting down a robocall operation that was based in Texas.
Robocalls are often facilitated by an organization that is pitching a product of a dubious value. However, the caller’s intent is to enrich themselves by gaining access to the call recipient’s money or personal information.
A form to file a robocall complaint can be found here.
