The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently took action against Veriwave Telco for making illegal robocalls promoting fake programs that promise to erase people’s tax debts. These calls, such as the "National Tax Relief Program" and "Tax Dismissal Program," turned out to be non-existent, targeting recipients just before the tax filing season.
Veriwave, an originating provider that routes call traffic to other phone companies before reaching users, was responsible for nearly 16 million fraudulent calls. Despite being traced back by the Industry Traceback Group (ITG), Veriwave failed to contest or prove permission for these calls, nor did they argue their legality.
After unsuccessful attempts to contact Veriwave about their robocall activities, the FCC instructed all US phone providers to block Veriwave’s calls. A recent order requires Veriwave to respond within 14 days and demonstrate compliance with regulations. Failure to do so will result in other phone companies blocking Veriwave’s calls within 30 days.
In a positive development, Veriwave announced in November 2023 that they had ceased robocalls using STIR/SHAKEN technology. This technology framework is designed to combat illegal robocalls and caller ID spoofing commonly used by scammers to deceive recipients:
- STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited): Focuses on authenticating caller ID information to ensure it matches the actual caller.
- SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs): Involves digitally signing caller ID information with certificates to verify its authenticity and prevent identity spoofing.
This proactive step by Veriwave aligns with industry efforts to improve telecommunications security and protect consumers from fraudulent activities.
