LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) -- Robocalls and scam callers are a top complaint to the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office.

“People are frustrated by these robocalls, citing numerous calls on a daily basis,” Sothan said.

But Sothan is optimistic this won’t be a problem forever. He says the FCC’s TRACED Act, went into effect this summer, so right now phone providers are implementing robocall mitigation technology.

“Americans receive three to 5 million calls a month and about 40-50% of those are scam calls,” said Ryan Sothan, Nebraska Attorney General’s Office.


The act mandates phone providers use technology to verify calls and either block them entirely or notify callers using a message like “Potential Spam” on caller ID.

ALLO’s chief experience officer, Allison O’Neil said this is something ALLO has already implemented.

“So look for that caller ID because the caller ID will have the indicators that tell you whether it could be a spam call or not, you know, any call coming through to you that has the name and the telephone number,” O’Neil said. “We’re showing that that’s a valid call and one that you should answer.”

O’Neil said these kinds of protections can go a long way to protect vulnerable customers.


“They could be spending a lot of time you don’t need to be spending and you can get to a point where they’re spending money they shouldn’t be,” O’Neil said.

She also said ALLO customers don’t need to take any steps to use these features, but the Sothan said that doesn’t mean you can’t do even more to protect yourself.

“Don’t be passive and wait for telephone companies to adopt this technology there are things that can be done now,” Sothan said.

First, use a silent ring feature for calls not on your contact list. Second, look into call blocker products through your provider. Third, install a call-blocking app that blocks calls from known scammers on a list.


“And finally, if you don’t know the number, don’t answer and let it go to voicemail,” Sothan said.

The Attorney General’s Office said implementation of the new law will be the hardest for small providers, but even they have to start putting robocall mitigating factors in place immediately. The FCC does have a Robocall Mitigation Database where users can look up their providers to find out how they’re doing in the implementation.