We need certainty, not hope, when collecting from scammers
Each day, millions of Americans absorb the low hum of robocall scams as an accepted cost of modern life — yet the agency charged with stopping them, the FCC, finds itself armed with the power to condemn but not to collect. A $116 million fine announced this week against a robocall operation lays bare a structural contradiction at the heart of American regulatory law: penalties that exist on paper but dissolve in practice, handed from one agency to another until accountability fades. The FCC is now asking Congress to close that gap, seeking the direct court authority that would let it pursue scammers not with hope, but with certainty.
- The FCC issued a landmark $116 million fine against a robocall operation — then acknowledged it likely won't collect most of it.
- In 2020, after issuing hundreds of millions in cumulative fines, the agency recovered exactly $6,790, a figure that exposes the enforcement system as largely theatrical.
- The core dysfunction: the FCC must hand every case to the Justice Department, which routinely declines to pursue them, leaving scammers to pay pennies on the dollar or nothing at all.
- FCC Chair Rosenworcel is calling the bluff publicly, demanding Congress grant the agency independent court authority so it can chase bad actors without waiting on another department's priorities.
- Until legislation changes the rules, every fine the FCC issues is less a punishment than a negotiating position — and scammers already know the odds are in their favor.
The FCC just issued a $116 million fine against a robocall operation and, in nearly the same moment, acknowledged the uncomfortable truth: it probably won't see most of that money. The agency can investigate, propose penalties, and coordinate with dozens of state attorneys general — but it cannot take a scammer to court on its own and collect.
Instead, the FCC passes its cases to the Justice Department and waits. The DOJ often doesn't pursue them. When it does, the outcomes are frequently grim. In one notable case, a scammer assessed a $5 million penalty ultimately paid $18,332 and the proceeds from selling his car. In 2020, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel noted that her agency had collected exactly $6,790 despite issuing hundreds of millions in fines over the years — a shortfall she attributed in part to the DOJ's outright refusal to pursue certain cases.
Announcing the $116 million fine, Rosenworcel was direct: "This fine is big. But it also calls attention to the fact that we need new rules of the game." What she wants is the power to go to court independently — to collect from bad actors without waiting for another agency to decide whether the case is worth its time.
That would require an act of Congress, and the political landscape is not hospitable. Legislation expanding regulatory enforcement authority faces real resistance in a fractured legislature. But the gap between what the FCC can threaten and what it can actually recover has grown impossible to ignore. Every month without reform is another month in which scammers calculate, correctly, that even if caught, the full penalty is unlikely to land.
The Federal Communications Commission just handed down a $116 million fine against a robocall operation, and in the same breath, admitted it probably won't see most of that money. The problem isn't the fine itself—it's that the FCC can't actually collect it.
Robocalls plague American households every day. They're the background noise of modern life: scammers, spoofed numbers, automated pitches that arrive at dinner time. Millions of people hang up on them without thinking. But the financial and emotional toll is real, and the FCC has been trying to fight back. The agency can investigate, can propose penalties, can coordinate with 41 state attorneys general through a national task force. What it cannot do is take a scammer to court and walk away with the money.
Instead, the FCC hands its cases to the Justice Department and waits. Sometimes the DOJ pursues them. Often it doesn't. When it does, the results are frequently disappointing. A few years back, the FTC referred a major robocalling case to the FCC, which assessed a $5 million penalty. The scammer ended up paying $18,332 and the proceeds from selling his car. In 2020, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel noted that her agency had issued hundreds of millions of dollars in fines over time and collected exactly $6,790. Part of that shortfall, she said, came from the Justice Department's "refusal" to pursue the cases at all.
Rosenworcel didn't mince words when announcing the $116 million fine. "This fine is big," she said. "But it also calls attention to the fact that we need new rules of the game." She went on to describe the current system as a matter of hope rather than certainty. The FCC issues a fine, hands it over to Justice, and hopes for the best. What she wants instead is the power to go to court herself, to collect directly from the bad actors without waiting for another agency to decide whether the case is worth pursuing.
That would require Congress to change the law. It would mean giving the FCC independent enforcement authority—a shift in regulatory power that would let the agency act on its own rather than as a supplicant to the Justice Department. Rosenworcel framed it as a fight worth having. "I would like the certainty of this agency being able to go to court directly and collect fines against these bad actors—each and every one of them," she said. "This will take a change in the law and we need Congress to fix that."
The timing is awkward. Congress is fractured and gridlocked, consumed with its own battles. Legislation that expands executive power, even in the narrow domain of robocall enforcement, faces an uphill climb. But the gap between what the FCC can threaten and what it can actually collect has become too large to ignore. Every month that passes without change is another month when scammers know that even if they're caught, the odds of paying the full penalty are slim. The $116 million fine is a statement. The real question is whether anyone will have to pay it.
Notable Quotes
This fine is big. But it also calls attention to the fact that we need new rules of the game.— FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel
I would like the certainty of this agency being able to go to court directly and collect fines against these bad actors—each and every one of them.— FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why can't the FCC just collect the fine itself? It's their agency, their investigation.
Because Congress never gave them that power. The FCC can define violations and propose penalties, but collecting money is technically a law enforcement function. That's supposed to be the Justice Department's job.
And the Justice Department just... doesn't do it?
Not always. They have limited resources and thousands of cases competing for attention. A robocall fine might not rank as high as other priorities. So the FCC issues a $116 million penalty and then watches it shrink to thousands of dollars, or disappear entirely.
That seems like a broken system.
It is. Rosenworcel called it out directly. She said the FCC issued hundreds of millions in fines over time and collected $6,790. When you're a scammer, those odds are pretty good.
So what would change if Congress gave the FCC direct authority?
The FCC could take cases to court itself, without waiting for Justice to decide if it's worth pursuing. They'd have certainty instead of hope. But Congress is fractured right now, so it's unclear if that legislation will ever move.
And in the meantime, robocalls keep happening.
Every single day. Millions of them. The fine is a statement, but without collection power, it's mostly theater.