OHIO AG GOING AFTER ROBOCALLS

Thousands reported after program rolled out to fight problem.

Two months after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost rolled out a program to fight robocalls, Ohioans have reported more than 13,700 of the annoying calls to his office.

“With the data gleaned from complaints, our Robocall Enforcement Unit is actively working to track patterns and trace the origin of calls. Our goal is to use that information to take enforcement action against bad actors tied to the complaints,” said Yost spokesman Dominic Binkley. “So far, the most prevalent types of robocalls we’re seeing involve extended service warranties, credit card interest rates and health care.”

Most of the robocalls are coming from outside the United States but are often made at the direction of bad actors located inside the U.S., he said.

So where are the calls coming from? Binkley declined to say since the information is part of the attorney general’s office investigation.

Yost created the Robocall Enforcement Unit with two investigators and one attorney and he is seeking broader authority to address the issue of robocalls.

Ohioans are asked to text “ROBO” to 888111 when they receive an automated, uninvited call. The system sends back a text with a link to a form that can be filled out in less than a minute. The form seeks the robocall number, time and date of the call, and other info.

An estimated 2.2 billion robocalls were placed in Ohio in 2019 — 178 per person on average, according to YouMail.