Authorities hope to eliminate 802 scam robocalls

Telemarketers and scam artists are increasingly using local area codes to trick customer according to experts who track these calls. It's a trend authorities are hoping to clamp down in the near future.

There were 4.4 million robocalls made to an 802 area code in September alone. That averages out to over 147,000 per day. While almost half were alerts and reminders for payments or appointments, the rest came from telemarketers and scam artists.

"They're always asking me if I have chronic pain," said Isabel Larson, a first year student at Middlebury College. She says she frequently gets calls and thinks they are from back home in Oregon. "Sometimes I worry like someone needs my help or someone's trying to contact me, but then it's just like a robocall."

Scammers who could be anywhere in the world -- illegally use your area code to make you pick up the phone -- and set you up to be scammed.

"These robocalls can be very aggressive," said Christopher Curtis, the Chief of the Public Protection Division with the Vermont Attorney General's office. His office gets over 13,000 calls a year from Vermonters concerned about scam and robocalls. "These are consumers that are getting pummeled with calls all over the place."

Curtis says there's very little police can do about the calls since many are generated overseas. But Attorneys General from around the U.S. are taking action. "We're asking the FCC to take a more assertive role," he said.

Attorneys general from 34 states want state and local governments to be able to work with phone carriers to detect and block more illegal robocalls. They hope to have new technology in place by next year to do that.

But for now, Curtis urges Vermonters to join the state's

"To let them know up front, where the problem is and how to avoid it," he said.

The state will send a text, e-mail or phone call to you when a new scam is reported. Curits says over 4,000 Vermonters are already receiving the notifications.