ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced Thursday that a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general has launched Phase 2 of Operation Robocall Roundup, ordering four of the nation’s largest voice service providers — Inteliquent, Bandwidth, Lumen, and Peerless Network — to immediately block suspected illegal robocall traffic flowing across their networks.
The directive from the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force marks the first time the group has targeted major gateway providers with billions of calls in their systems.
“These four major providers transmit billions of fraudulent robocalls that interrupt Marylanders’ dinners, work, and family time,” Brown said. “Our Task Force’s message is simple: do more to stop these invasive calls now or face the consequences.”
The four companies have continued routing hundreds of thousands — and in some cases millions — of suspected illegal calls despite repeated industry traceback notices that identify specific scam campaigns. Traceback is the telecommunications industry’s process for tracing illegal calls back to the originating provider.
Letters sent to each company detail the volume and types of scam calls traced to their networks, including Social Security Administration impersonation scams, auto-warranty schemes, and fake debt-collection calls.
Phase 2 follows measurable success from Phase 1, launched in August 2025, when warning letters were sent to 37 smaller providers:
- Thirteen companies were removed from the Federal Communications Commission’s Robocall Mitigation Database, effectively cutting them off from the U.S. telephone network.
- Nineteen companies no longer appear in any traceback results.
- At least four providers terminated customer accounts identified as sources of illegal traffic.
Maryland joined the bipartisan task force in 2022. The coalition now includes attorneys general from every state, the District of Columbia, and several territories.
Illegal robocalls remain the top consumer complaint filed with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office and the FCC. In 2024 alone, Americans received an estimated 4.9 billion robocalls per month nationwide, according to YouMail’s National Robocall Index.
Residents can reduce unwanted calls by registering phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry at www.donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222. Marylanders who continue to receive illegal robocalls are encouraged to file complaints with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division online at www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov or by calling 410-528-8662.
Consumers can also forward suspicious text messages to 7726 (SPAM) to help carriers identify and block scam numbers.