Robo calls that just won't quit.
Someone wants to help you get
your stimulus check faster,
or they're trying to sell
you a fake vaccine ID card.
Scamming Sammy just doesn't quit today
on two wants to know we're talking all
about the ways to protect yourself
from falling into any of those traps.
So who is the best person to
talk to about this?
Well, attorney General Josh Stein is
with us for the next 15 minutes to
talk about those important topics.
Ann Moran.
To take your questions,
you can start texting your questions
for the North Carolina Attorney general.
To 336-379-5775 and will ask your
questions as they come up in the queue,
right? First and foremost,
let's talk Robo calls because
everybody hates them.
Everybody gets them and you just
had a case with them.
Yeah, a big
case. Really proud is a partnership
with some other States and the Federal
Trade Commission against a telemarketer
called Associated Community Services or
ACS and they called, supposedly on behalf
of charities, Charities for Veterans
for Children and Firefighters.
But they would take up to 90% of
the proceeds for themselves and the
money wouldn't even go to help.
The cause is that
they said that they were calling
on behalf of. They took about
$110 million from charitable
Americans. Really unfortunate and.
We shut him down.
They gotta go out of business and
they can't do those kinds of calls
anymore and we're trying to make
sure that these Robo callers that are
making they made 1.3 billion phone
calls Tanya to 67 million Americans.
That's a one of every five
people in the country.
Got one of these phone calls,
so we're trying to go after the bad
actors to bring a little peace and
quiet to our homes and our phones.
Yeah, and we absolutely love
the idea that they had to
go out of business now you sent
us a graphic so that we could use
it for folks about what should
you do when you get a call?
How do you answer it or not?
The best thing to do is just hang up.
Don't answer it, most of them
won't even leave you a message.
You know there was actually a
study that showed that North
Carolinians are the number 2 state
most likely to answer Robo calls,
and I think it's because we're polite.
You know people in the South generally
are kind and somebody calls you you.
You know you answer the phone,
but what they do when they
get people on the phone,
particularly vulnerable people as
they put a hook in him and real
men and steal their money so.
If you just hang up,
if you never say yes,
then you can be assured that
nobody will be defrauded.
Yeah, if it's not a phone number that you
recognize you don't need to answer the phone,
they'll leave a message and we do
have a text question about that.
They're saying that they do have an
app which screens their calls and
so the block call comes in their
voice message answers it.
They're like OK, can I stop
the block calls altogether?
'cause they leave a message,
and that frustrates me too.
Well, you know there's not
going to be a perfect answer.
We're never going to get
rid of them altogether,
but our goal is to reduce the
number of these calls that we get
an in that technology is good.
'cause most robo callers
will not leave a message.
That's not to say that there
aren't some that will,
but most of them won't,
and that way,
at least if it's a legitimate caller
from a number you don't recognize,
they can leave a message and you can
call them back whenever you're ready.
Yet if it's the robo
call, you just hit delete, delete,
delete, and you just know that you
don't have to worry about it, OK?
Of course, the next text question
was all about the car warranty calls.
I know you've gotten them as well.
We hope that one day you'll be
able to find them too well, we did.
We Sue the guy in Texas who made 75 million
car warranty calls into North Carolina,
and while that case is ongoing,
he can't make anymore phone
calls into North Carolina. Now.
I know there are other people out there
and we're trying to go after them as well,
and we're in partnership with the phone
companies where they cooperate with our
investigations of these Robo callers.
But I also want to hold the
phone companies there are certain
telephone service providers,
not the big ones that you're familiar with,
but some smaller outfits that make money.
They make fractions of a penny
off of every call,
even the illegal calls that
go through their network,
and I want them to know their customer
and make sure there are legitimate
before they allow their systems
to be used and we're going to be
investigating some of those phone
companies in the coming weeks and months.
Alright,
you've got your hands and like a lot
of different pots of different things.
I know that just recently you.
Spearheaded all like what
something like 35 other attorney
generals are more than that.
Trying to get fake vaccine
cards off of social media.
That's right,
actually we got 47 attorneys general
to join this letter that I authored
along with the Attorney General
of Tennessee Herbert Slatery.
And this was a bipartisan effort.
I mean, people are putting on
Twitter and Shopify and eBay,
fake vaccine cards representing
to be from the CDC.
That is inherently deceptive and terribly
damaging becauses it will delay the
amount of time that we're struggling through.
COVID-19, you know, temperatures
getting warmer spring is blooming,
jobs are being created and we really want
to put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror.
But in order for us to do that,
as many people need to get
vaccinated as possible,
and so you can get a vaccine
card for free and a vaccine,
there's no need to pay for
some deceptive card.
And misrepresent whether you got a vaccine.