The FCC’s Robocall Response Team revealed new actions to cut off scam robocalls related to student loan debts. The Enforcement Bureau believes upwards of 40 percent of student loan debt robocalls generated last month originated from one voice service provider: Urth Access, LLC.
The bureau told the company it must cease and desist from carrying this apparently illegal traffic and ordered all voice service providers to be on the lookout for such traffic. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the bureau is investigating these calls for possible further legal action.
“We’re slamming the door on these pernicious calls — cutting them off to protect the millions of Americans who may be targeted simply because they have school loans,” said FCC Rosenworcel. “This is a new and more nimble FCC tool that we are putting to quick use here and won’t hesitate to use again in order to prevent these scam calls from getting through and reaching consumers.”
Student loan robocalls include recorded advertising messages offering student loan assistance, including loan forgiveness. Many of them reference an entity such as the “Student Loan Center.”
For example, some of the robocalls contained the following message: “Hello this is to inform you that the Student Loan payment suspension has been extended to December 31 of this year. Also, everyone is now going to get $10,000 dismissed upon income verification. If you do not verify your income, on January 1, your payments will start back up automatically. To receive the full dismissal, not just the $10,000 dismissal, a petition will be filed on your behalf so that your loan payments do not begin on January 1. If you’re being serviced by Nelnet, Navient, Fed loans or Great Lakes, please press 5 on your phone now. If your service was not listed, you can also receive a dismissal by pressing 5. If you have verified your income and received your partial or full dismissal already, please press 9 to stop your notifications.”
Using data from call blocking application YouMail, the Enforcement Bureau identified robocall campaigns representing approximately 40 percent of all student loan-related robocalls reaching YouMail subscribers in October 2022. Nearly all of these robocalls appear to be originating from Urth Access, according to the agency. The apparent recent spike in student loan debt scam calls appears to have followed the announcement in August of the President’s student loan forgiveness program, just as similar spikes had followed prior Department of Education loan forbearance announcements since March 20, 2020.
The FCC recently issued a Consumer Alert about a potential uptick in student loan debt robocalls following the announcement of nationwide federal student loan debt relief. The Commission also issued an Enforcement Advisory to remind voice service providers of their role in protecting consumers by combating the scourge of illegal robocalls aggressively, especially student loan robocalls. Preparing for and combating student loan scam robocalls is a government-wide effort. The agency is working with its federal partners to combat such calls.
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