Gillibrand reintroduces legislation to crack down on robo calls, AI scams

Press Release, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand held a video press conference on Thursday to announce her push to crack down on robocalls, robotexts, and AI scams.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

Americans receive 4 billion robocalls every month, many of them from scammers. And as artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated, phone scams are becoming more sophisticated as well.

Voice cloning, for instance, allows a scammer to mimic or impersonate the voice of an individual’s loved ones in order to steal money or information. Gillibrand is reintroducing the Deter Obnoxious, Nefarious, and Outrageous Telephone Calls (DO NOT Call) Act to establish new criminal penalties for robocallers, including prison time. She is also calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and track potentially devastating AI-powered scams.

“Robocalls are obnoxious and disruptive at best and mechanisms for insidious scams at worst,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Scammers should not be allowed unfettered access to New Yorkers at all times of day and night. I am reintroducing the DO NOT Call Act to finally crack down on robocalls and robotexts and impose stricter penalties for scammers – including up to 3 years in prison. I’m also calling on the FTC to investigate and track increasingly common AI scams that target vulnerable New Yorkers. I am determined to end relentless robocalls and look forward to getting this legislation passed.”

The Deter Obnoxious, Nefarious, and Outrageous Telephone Calls (DO NOT Call) Act strengths criminal penalties for intentional violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which regulates the use of telemarketing calls. Under the DO NOT Call Act, repeated violations of telemarketing prohibitions are punishable by a prison sentence of up to 3 years.  The bill also doubles the fine for falsifying caller ID information from $10,000 to $20,000.

Senator Gillibrand is also calling on the FTC to track the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) to perpetrate frauds and scams in its Consumer Sentinel Network, a database to track scams that can be shared with local, state, and federal law enforcement.