WASHINGTON — A coalition of banking, credit union, payments and financial technology trade groups is urging the Federal Communications Commission to adopt stricter telephone numbering rules aimed at curbing illegal robocalls and caller ID spoofing, arguing that fraudsters continue to exploit weaknesses in the nation’s telephone numbering system to target consumers.
In a joint comment letter filed with the FCC, the American Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, America’s Credit Unions, Bank Policy Institute, Consumer Bankers Association, Defense Credit Union Council, Electronic Transactions Association and Financial Technology Association expressed support for an FCC proposal that would strengthen numbering policies and impose tighter controls on entities with access to telephone numbers.
The groups said illegal call spoofing remains a primary tool used by criminals to carry out scams and fraud schemes, creating significant financial and emotional harm for consumers. They praised the FCC for advancing proposals that would strengthen “know your customer” requirements for voice service providers and other carriers that route calls through their networks.
Specific Support for One Proposal
The associations specifically endorsed an FCC proposal that would limit the resale of telephone numbers to a single level. Under the proposal, providers obtaining phone numbers from another carrier would be required to assign those numbers directly to end users rather than reselling them through multiple layers of intermediaries.
According to the groups, multiple layers of number resellers can obscure who controls a telephone number, which provider vetted the caller and which party should be held accountable when illegal calls occur. The organizations said greater transparency would improve enforcement efforts against bad actors.
The coalition also urged the FCC to crack down on a practice known as “number cycling” or “number rotation,” in which callers acquire large quantities of telephone numbers and rotate through them to evade call-blocking and call-labeling systems designed to identify fraudulent activity.
6 Days 6 Million Calls, 6 Million Numbers
As an example, the groups cited an analysis conducted for the American Bankers Association that found an estimated six million calls were placed from approximately six million distinct telephone numbers over a six-day period between May 28 and June 3, 2026, using a single prerecorded script. Because each call originated from a different number, consumers receiving multiple calls could not effectively block future calls from the source, the letter said.
The analysis was tied to a scam reported through the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker involving repeated calls offering personal loans. According to the filing, investigators found that nearly every call originated from a different telephone number while directing recipients to the same toll-free callback number. The review traced the calls to six dominant originating voice service providers and estimated that roughly 6 million distinct telephone numbers were used to place about 6 million calls during the six-day period.
Damage to Phone Numbers
The associations said number cycling not only frustrates efforts to identify illegal callers but also depletes the supply of available telephone numbers and can damage the reputation of numbers later assigned to legitimate users.
The groups noted that some industry observers have suggested legitimate businesses may rotate large numbers of telephone numbers to avoid erroneous call blocking. However, the associations said their members do not engage in such practices and instead seek to build trust and strengthen customer relationships by consistently using the same phone numbers when contacting consumers.
The coalition also noted that restrictions on number cycling could help combat “snowshoeing,” a similar tactic used in text-message scams in which criminals spread large volumes of messages across numerous telephone numbers to evade detection.
The trade groups urged the FCC to finalize the proposal, saying stronger numbering policies would improve accountability throughout the telecommunications ecosystem and help reduce the volume of illegal spoofed calls reaching consumers.
