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Law360 (April 3, 2020, 9:54 PM EDT) -- Three companies that usher calls into the United States are officially on notice: If they don't start blocking coronavirus scams immediately, the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission will give the go-ahead to block all their phone traffic.
The agencies issued the "first of its kind" warning on Friday, telling three so-called gateway providers that they had 48 hours to implement changes or the agencies would tell U.S.-based carriers that they could block any of the foreign calls coming in via the three companies' networks.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the notice should serve as a warning to other providers who are "carrying or thinking about carrying" scam traffic, one that says "If you do so, you too will find yourselves excluded from our phone system."
"During this national emergency, it is unconscionable that these companies are abusing their access to our nation's telephone network by serving as conduits for scam robocallers who are subjecting Americans to coronavirus-related fraud," Pai said in a statement. "This must end and must end now."
Three gateway providers were on the receiving end of that warning Friday: SIPJoin, Connexum and BLMarketing. The agencies said they got their names from a group managed by trade association USTelecom that aims to "help officials track down suspect calls."
If the providers aren't toeing the line by the prescribed deadline, the agencies said they've told USTelecom to spread the word to its members to start blocking calls.
The warning comes the day after the United States reached a quarter of a million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
More than 7,000 people across the country have already died from the disease that the agencies said scammers are taking advantage of to promise free COVID-19 test kits that don't exist and air conditioning cleaning services that purport to help fight the virus.
"These warning letters make clear that VoIP providers who help illegal robocallers prey on fears surrounding the coronavirus are squarely in our sights." FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement.
Representatives for the gateway providers could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
--Editing by Bruce Goldman.
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