As New Yorkers experience a decline in the nuisance of automated telemarketing calls, robotext scams have emerged as the latest cause for concern.
Between 2021 and 2022, complaints concerning violations of the Do Not Call (DNC) Law dropped by 46%, with the New York State Department of Consumer Protection reporting 63,987 complaints in 2023, significantly lower than 247,014 in 2021.
Despite national efforts, including legislation championed by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to impose stricter penalties for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, experts note the increasing trend towards text-based scams.
These scams are more challenging to regulate, especially when sent from international sources.
Given their proliferation, robotexts pose a distinct challenge; they’re harder to track and existing protections struggle to keep pace.
As consumers grow wary of unknown calls, they don’t exhibit the same caution with texts, making the medium attractive to scammers. Even with measures like the FCC’s recent rules mandating the blocking of suspicious texts and efforts by New York to broaden the definition of telemarketing to include text messages, addressing the issue remains elusive.
To safeguard against scams, experts advise consumers to refrain from engaging with potential robocalls and to report suspicious texts to service providers or relevant federal agencies.
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