Utah Attorney General Derek Brown and a bipartisan coalition of 49 state attorneys general are pressing the Federal Communications Commission to close a significant regulatory loophole that allows foreign scam call centers to target U.S. consumers. According to an official announcement from the Utah Office of the Attorney General issued on February 24, 2025, the multistate coalition filed comments demanding stronger rules to hold gateway providers accountable for routing illegal international traffic.
Pushing Gateway Providers to Block Foreign Scams
The coalition’s filing targets gateway providers, which are the telecommunications companies that serve as the initial point of entry for international calls entering the U.S. telecommunications network. According to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, these gateway providers often turn a blind eye to fraudulent operations originating overseas, permitting billions of illegal robocalls to flood American phones. The state attorneys general argue that the FCC must require these domestic middlemen to actively monitor, filter, and block suspicious foreign traffic before it reaches downstream phone carriers.
“Utahns are bombarded daily by relentless scam calls originating from outside our borders,” Attorney General Derek Brown said in a public statement released by his office. “We are urging the FCC to take decisive action by shutting down the pathways that foreign bad actors use to exploit our phone networks. Holding gateway providers accountable is a critical step in protecting consumers from financial fraud.”
The Bipartisan Coalition and Prior Regulatory Actions
The 49-state coalition represents a unified front across political lines, building upon previous multi-state efforts to combat illegal robocalls. According to federal telecommunications filings, the FCC previously enacted rules requiring gateway providers to register in the Robocall Mitigation Database and implement caller ID authentication standards such as STIR/SHAKEN. However, state regulators argue those measures do not go far enough to penalize companies that continue to profit from handling illegal traffic.
By comparison, while earlier FCC mandates focused primarily on domestic voice service providers, this new push zeroes in specifically on cross-border transmission points. The attorneys general contend that foreign scammers frequently mask their identities and exploit lax enforcement at international handoff points to deceive consumers, particularly vulnerable populations like the elderly.
Next Steps for FCC Oversight
The FCC will review the multistate comments as part of its ongoing rulemaking proceedings concerning robocall mitigation. According to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, federal regulators have not yet announced a definitive timeline for voting on new gateway provider mandates, but state enforcers continue to pressure the agency to adopt stricter compliance standards and harsher penalties for non-compliant carriers.