Maine has joined Operation Robocall Roundup, a multistate effort to crack down on robocalls across the country, Attorney General Aaron Frey announced Thursday.
The Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, formed by attorneys general nationwide in 2021 to take legal action against companies responsible for large amounts of illegal and fraudulent robocall traffic, will send warning letters to 37 voice providers to demand they stop illegal robocalls routed through their networks.

“Robocalls are not just nuisance, they are a primary method for scammers to reach unwitting victims,” Frey said in a written statement. “While the scammers are often out of reach of the American legal system, the companies passing these calls through are not. This is our first step in alerting these businesses that we will be holding them accountable for their complicity in these robocalls unless they take action to prevent would-be scammers from using their networks.”
The task force will also send letters to 99 downstream providers that accept call traffic from the 37 companies so they know they are doing business with “bad actors,” according to Frey.
The 37 providers have not complied with Federal Communications Commission rules about responding to government traceback requests, have not registered with the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Databases, and have not filed a plan that describes how they will reduce illegal robocalls on their networks, according to the Maine Office of the Attorney General.
By disregarding these rules, these companies are allowing robocallers onto their phone networks and then passing their calls on to other downstream providers until they reach the phones of Mainers, Frey said.
The FCC announced Wednesday that its enforcement bureau removed 185 noncompliant voice providers from connecting to U.S. networks and routing calls until they comply with FCC regulations. All of those providers violated commission rules by maintaining deficient certifications after repeated warnings, participating in illegal robocall campaigns or failing to support official efforts to investigate the campaigns, according to the FCC.
“The FCC is engaged in a comprehensive effort to combat the scourge of illegal robocalls. That includes preventing providers from connecting to our networks if they fail to meet their regulatory obligations. The FCC expects every provider to do its part to protect Americans from these scammers,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement Wednesday.
Frey said seven of those voice providers removed by the FCC are among the ones that will receive letters from the anti-robocall task force.
A SLEW OF SCAM CALLS
Mainers have increasingly reported receiving scam robocalls and texts that often claim to be government departments and threaten legal action.
Last year, Maine received 1,058 complaints of scammers impersonating government officials or agencies, up from 847 in 2023 and 735 in 2022, according to data collected by the Federal Trade Commission. That figure peaked at 1,647 in 2021, during the pandemic. In the first quarter of this year, Mainers lodged 243 such complaints.
There were even more complaints of scammers impersonating businesses, such as electric companies and other utilities. Maine saw 1,346 such complaints in 2024, which was higher than any year from 2020 to 2022 but just shy of the 1,358 reported in 2023.
In late June, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services reported that Mainers were receiving scam robocalls threatening to close benefits unless personal information was shared. Some of those calls used stolen recordings from the Office of Family Independence to sound real, according to the department.
DHHS officials warned people to stay alert and never share their EBT card number or PIN with anyone and to report suspicious calls to the department.
At least 13 people called the attorney general’s office to complain about a text message scam that referenced a Maine “Department” of Motor Vehicles and a fake law, officials said last month. (Maine has a Bureau of Motor Vehicles, not a department.)
Those phony messages warned that recipients had just days before their licenses would be suspended and demanded they make an immediate payment.
Experts say people who think they have been scammed should act quickly. Potential victims should freeze their credit with all three major reporting agencies, as well as freeze their credit and bank accounts if possible. They should also report the potential crime to their local police department.
The FCC recommends people who believe they have received an illegal call or text or who think they have been the victim of a scam to file a complaint with the commission.
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