The Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) and 10 other national trade associations have filed joint comments backing the FCC’s proposal to strengthen the Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD), and they want the agency to finalize it as soon as feasible.
The RMD is a registry of voice providers and the steps they take to keep illegal calls off their networks. The groups’ concern is spoofing, where scammers fake a caller ID so a call appears to come from a credit union or another trusted organization. “When criminals make a call look like it is coming from a member’s credit union, they are exploiting trust to steal money,” said Jason Stverak, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer. He noted that for servicemembers, veterans, and military families, those losses can undermine financial security. “We support the FCC’s efforts to stop these scams before they reach our members.”
The letter asks the FCC to get tougher about who stays in the database and who gets back in. That includes keeping providers that have been removed from simply returning under a new corporate name, a trick that is apparently as old as corporate names themselves.
The associations made five specific recommendations. First, every provider should state in its RMD filing the year it began offering voice service, so regulators can see its operating history. Second, intermediate providers should check the RMD when assessing the companies sending them calls, including those companies’ robocall enforcement records. Third, the FCC should screen new RMD submissions carefully before accepting them, since acceptance is what lets a provider transmit calls. Fourth, enforcement should speed up, including through additional hiring at the Enforcement Bureau. Fifth, the FCC should clarify that a company’s in-house telephone system and call center do not have to file in the RMD.
“Every provider in the call path has a responsibility to help keep illegal calls off the network,” Stverak said. “The FCC should move quickly against bad actors while making clear that credit unions’ in-house phone systems and call centers are not subject to these registration requirements.”
The joint reply comments were filed in WC Docket Nos. 24-213 and 17-97 and CG Docket No. 17-59, and the filing status is available on the FCC’s site. If you work at a credit union, it’s worth reading the docket to see how the in-house call center clarification develops. In the meantime, remind members that their credit union won’t pressure them to act immediately over the phone, and that hanging up and calling back on the number printed on their card is always safe.