Finger Lakes Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Sen. Schumer is pushing a new bill to block robocalls

Fran Gambiacuten
/
freeimages.com
Credit Fran Gambiacuten / freeimages.com
/
freeimages.com

The number of robocalls people are receiving is growing, and Senator Chuck Schumer is trying to put an end to them.

He introduced the ROBOCOP or the Repeated Objectionable Bothers of Consumers on Phones Act which would require both landline and mobile carriers to offer free robocall blocking technology to all consumers.

"There are all different types of technologies that exist. Some offer a black list that blocks specific spam numbers from coming through. Some offer a white list that allows consumers to enter certain phone numbers. But we want to make sure that this works."

In addition to being an annoyance, Schumer explained that robocalls could also hurt consumers financially when they involve scammers.

Schumer cited statistics that Americans received 3.4 billion robocalls last month, an increase of nearly 1 billion calls compared to the same month a year ago.

Copyright 2018 WXXI News

Caitlin Whyte
Caitlin joins WXXI after working down the street at Stephens Media Group where, she co hosted a children's radio show, "Saturday Morning CarTunes" on WARM 101.3 and worked as a traffic reporter for various affiliates.
Associated Press
The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.