May 13, 2024
Washington, D.C. – Today, the FCC announced a new initiative, the Consumer Communications Information Services Threat (C-CIST), under which the FCC will publicly identify a party that it determines poses a significant threat to consumer trust and use of communications information services. According to the FCC, the purpose is to raise awareness among state, federal, and international law enforcement entities, in addition to industry stakeholders to assist with bolstering their “Know Your Customer” (KYC) and “Know Your Upstream Provider” (KYUP) protocols. As part of the announcement, the FCC identified the first “C-CIST,” a group of individuals and entities in India, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States responsible for imposter robocalls.
The following statement can be attributed to Josh Bercu, executive director of the USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group and vice president of policy and advocacy at USTelecom.
“The FCC’s announcement today is the latest innovation built on public-private collaboration to get scammers and spammers off our phone networks. This partnership is working for consumers, with scam robocalls down over 80% from peak levels – but our work is far from done. USTelecom’s Industry Traceback Group identified these bad actors or “C-CISTs” and assisted in shutting them down, and this new FCC initiative will help keep them from coming back.”