The Federal Communications Commission has approved new rules designed to sever a critical resource for illegal robocallers: access to legitimate U.S. phone numbers. In a unanimous vote on November 16, the agency adopted measures that will require voice service providers to verify the identity of their business customers.
The central rule, a Report and Order establishing “Know Your Customer” (KYC) requirements, directly targets the common tactic of using shell companies or fraudulent information to acquire phone numbers for scam campaigns. Under the new mandate, providers must collect and verify identifying information—such as a business’s legal name, address, and tax ID—before providing service. This aims to prevent robocall operators from anonymously obtaining the numbers they use to plague consumers.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel stated the goal is to “cut off robocallers at the source.” The KYC rules are intended to complement the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication framework, which verifies that a caller ID is legitimate, by also ensuring the entity making the calls is identifiable and accountable.
In a related action, the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry to explore policies that could encourage companies to move their call center operations back to the United States. This exploratory measure seeks public comment on how to best disrupt scam operations based overseas that target Americans. While not a binding rule, it signals the agency’s focus on addressing the international dimension of telecommunications fraud.
Voice service providers will now face the operational task of implementing these new identity verification systems. For consumers, the measures represent a significant regulatory effort to reduce the volume of fraudulent and unwanted calls that cost Americans billions of dollars each year.
