Kentucky Attorney General Sends Warning to Phone Companies that Have Allowed Robocalls to Scam Kentucky Residents

Task force may pursue further legal actions against these companies and their owners.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Dec. 12, 2024) –  Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman issued a warning to four voice service providers that have been transmitting suspected illegal robocall traffic on their networks. General Coleman is a member of the 51-attorney general Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, which has been investigating these providers.

In the warning letters, the task force informs the providers that it has shared the findings of its investigations with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to consider appropriate next steps. The letters warned that if these providers continue to transmit robocalls and violate state and federal laws, the task force may pursue further legal actions against these companies and their owners.

Earlier this year, General Coleman and a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general called on the FCC to improve the Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD) and close an unmonitored loophole that bad actors exploit to access the U.S. telephone network. Currently, voice service providers must register on the FCC’s database to operate in the United States. However, since it went live in 2021, this loophole has allowed robocallers to continue accessing the U.S. telephone network. In November, Kentuckians received an estimated 55.7 million robocalls of the nearly 5 billion robocalls placed nationwide.

“Kentuckians are fed up with this garbage that interrupts their daily lives and tries to take advantage of them. Attorneys general across the country are sending a clear message that we will hold those behind these illegal robocalls accountable,” said Attorney General Coleman. “We will continue working with our partners in other states and at the FCC to stop these bad actors.”

The task force sent warning letters to the following companies:

KWK Communications, Inc. – KWK Communications received at least 129 traceback notices from the industry traceback group between 2020 and 2022, which included high volumes of calls associated with IRS and Social Security Administration scams, auto warranty scams, and utilities scams. In just one month in 2022, KWK allegedly routed more than 20,000 calls with illegally spoofed telephone numbers and more than 8.7 million calls made using invalid Caller ID numbers.

Inbound Communications, Inc. formerly Inbound Inc. – Inbound received at least 63 traceback notices between 2021 and 2022, including many about calls that involved imposter scams. Inbound is also estimated to have allegedly routed more than 28.4 million DirecTV and cable discount scam robocalls in a single month in 2022. The FTC previously issued a cease-and-desist demand to Inbound over these scam calls.

AKA Management, Inc. – AKA received at least 129 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022, including about calls that were government imposter scams and tech support scams. AKA is also estimated to have allegedly routed about 12.1 million Amazon and Apple imposter robocalls to consumers in a single month in 2022.

CallVox LLC – CallVox received more than 47 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022 warning of unlawful or suspicious robocalls that it helped move into and through the U.S. telephone network, including thousands of calls to people who were registered on the Do Not Call list and calls placed using illegally spoofed telephone numbers.

The Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force of 51 bipartisan attorneys general investigates and takes legal action against those responsible for routing significant volumes of illegal robocall traffic into and across the United States.