New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport is urging federal regulators to strengthen rules aimed at stopping illegal robocalls before they reach consumers.

Davenport co-led a coalition of 49 attorneys general calling on the Federal Communications Commission to require phone companies to more closely scrutinize the providers whose calls they accept.

Phone calls can pass through several companies before reaching a consumer. The attorneys general want those companies to learn more about the providers they do business with, monitor their activity and conduct additional checks on higher-risk customers, including those using high-volume calling services.

The coalition says the changes could help identify and cut off sources of illegal calls before they reach people's phones.

According to the Attorney General's Office, Americans received more than 29.6 billion scam robocalls and texts last year and lost nearly $2 billion to such scams.

"New Jerseyans are fed up with a constant barrage of unwanted robocalls," Davenport said. "These proposed rules give companies more incentive to do their due diligence before allowing junk calls to reach our phones."