Foreign actors are increasingly contributing to the surge in illegal robocalls and robotexts, according to telecommunications industry leaders who testified Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Witnesses highlighted the threats robocalls pose to the public and outlined actions Congress could take to address the issue. The key concern emphasized by the four witnesses was that while the Federal Communications Commission is cracking down on domestic robocalls, the involvement of foreign actors has been growing, causing more people to suffer spam calls and texts.

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“We do see a lot of fraud comes from abroad, especially the scale of fraud,” said Joshua Bercu, executive director of Industry Traceback Group and Senior VP of USTelecom. “So in terms of other countries, I think those same actors are attacking everyone around the world.” 

Robocalls and robotexts have become harder to eliminate as unregulated artificial intelligence tools evolve. Now, bad actors exploit technologies such as deepfakes and ChatGPT to impersonate voices or generate spam text prompts, said Ben Winters, director of AI and data privacy at Consumer Federation of America.

In April 2025, robocalls were being placed at a rate of 2,000 per second. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) said Americans lost $25 billion to robocall-related scams in 2023. 

Bercu said that, through ITG’s traceback portal, he has seen foreign actors impersonate U.S.-based companies, despite logging in from international internet protocol addresses. 

The ITG has identified roughly 2,000 voice service providers from 75 countries in traceback. 

Sarah Leggin, vice president of regulatory affairs at CTIA, said robocalls and robotexts originate domestically and internationally. She stressed that CTIA prioritizes foreign-originated illegal calls but noted that the country’s origins are constantly shifting.

Countries in Southeast Asia, including India, are the leading source of illegal and unmonitored robocalls and robotexts, according to Leggin.

To address bad actors located outside of the United States, the Federal Communications Commission has created memoranda of understanding for collaboration with international partners and states.

Bercu advocated a national strategy to target uncooperative countries, such as Laos and Cambodia, where actors seem unwilling to get involved with the U.S. government.

“The same people attacking us here are also attacking consumers in Canada, [the] U.K., and Thailand,” Bercu said. “I think as we go around the world, there’s more coalitions willing to go after the criminal actors.”

Bercu said coordination between criminal law enforcement authorities and the FCC is crucial to cracking down on foreign robocall operations.

In October 2024, Marriott International won a lawsuit against two foreign robocall operators that unlawfully used its trademarks in more than 66 million robocalls between 2019 and 2022. This case was highlighted by Stephen Waguespack, president of the Institute for Legal Reform and special counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

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The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee led the hearing, following an announcement by Chairmen Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Gary Palmer (R-AL).

“Illegal, predatory robocalls and robotexts have defrauded Americans of billions of dollars and undermined the public’s faith in the communications they receive. Despite Congressional and agency enforcement actions, rapid technological developments have made it increasingly difficult to stop this scourge,” said Guthrie and Palmer in their announcement.