How businesses can protect their brands and bottom lines against damage from illegal robocalls

March 17, 2021 was a milestone in the war on illegal robocalls. The FCC levied a $225 million fine — the largest in its history — on a telemarketer for making 1 billion illegal robocalls. On the same day, the FCC launched its Robocall Response Team, whose 51 staffers will step up enforcement and develop policies to help track down illegal robocallers. And finally, the FCC issued cease-and-desist letters to six voice service providers for allowing their networks to pass illegal robocalls.

That’s welcome news for businesses because illegal robocalls directly affect their bottom lines and brands in a variety of ways — including ones that aren’t obvious.

For example, consumers are inundated with so many illegal robocalls that when they see a call from an unfamiliar or unidentified number, they let it drop into voice mail 76 percent of the time. As a result, millions of legitimate, often time-sensitive business calls — such as appointment reminders, callbacks for customer inquiries and automated calls about school closures — go unanswered simply because consumers have been conditioned to view unfamiliar / unidentified numbers as spam.

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