Attorney General Ellison pushes federal government to strengthen Know Your Customer rules to combat illegal robocalls
Joins coalition of 50 AGs in pushing FCC to strengthen ‘Know Your Customer’ rules to help prevent scammers
Americans received more than 29.6 billion scam robocalls and texts last year, lost nearly $2 billion to scams
July 28, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and a bipartisan coalition of 50 attorneys general are pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen its “Know Your Customer” (KYC) rules to help prevent scammers from using the U.S. communications network to make illegal robocalls. KYC rules require phone companies to know who is making calls through their networks and what kinds of business these customers are conducting. With that information, phone companies can suspend or terminate callers who use their networks to make unlawful calls or decline to do business with customers that are not legitimate companies or cannot prove that they conduct lawful business.
“I hate illegal robocalls, and I especially hate that they can scam people out of their hard-earned money. For years, I’ve been working with nearly every other attorney general to use the tools we have to crack down on robocall scammers and to pressure the federal government into doing more with theirs,” Attorney General Ellison said. “We’ve made good progress in recent years and we won’t let up until we’ve put an end to all illegal robocalls. Stopping illegal robocalls is essential to helping people afford their lives.”
Illegal robocalls start with an originating voice service provider allowing bad actors to use their network. If scammers are unable to get their calls onto the U.S. communications network, they can’t make illegal robocalls. Therefore, originating voice service providers are key to stopping these calls from reaching people. Attorney General Ellison has previously asked the FCC to strengthen its KYC rules.
Even though providers are already required to know who their customers are, the current requirements aren’t strong enough — as evidenced by the prevalence of robocall scams. Last year, Americans received more than 29.6 billion scam robocalls and texts and lost nearly $2 billion to these scams.
In addition to steps the FCC is already taking, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition urge the FCC to:
- Require providers to understand their customers’ business. In addition to verifying a customer’s identity and existence, originating providers should also be required to examine and understand the customer’s business practices, reputation, history, intended use of services, and their compliance with state and federal laws.
- Hold all originating providers to KYC standards. Even small originating service providers should be required to meet enhanced KYC standards. Scammers use originating providers, regardless of size, to access the communications network. In fact, illegal calls are often facilitated by smaller voice service providers. Not holding small providers to the same standards could cause them to be even more attractive to bad actors looking to use them to make illegal robocalls.
- Require originating providers to collect additional information on high-risk customers. While KYC requirements should be universal, the attorneys general support additional, long-term monitoring of customers who are more likely to make illegal robocalls, such as those subscribing to high volume services.
This letter comes after Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of 49 attorneys general sent comments to the FCC earlier in July, encouraging it to crackdown on illegal robocalls by strengthening rules that would cut off scammers’ access to legitimate phone numbers.
The two letters are part of Phase 2 of Operation Robocall Roundup, an effort by the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force to crack down on robocalls across the country. Phase 1 launched in August 2025 with warning letters sent to 37 smaller voice providers that were allowing suspected illegal robocalls onto the U.S. telephone network. Phase 2 launched in December and expanded the crackdown to four of the largest intermediate voice service providers in the country.
Joining Attorney General Ellison in the letter are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
