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State lawmakers move to make 'spoofing' phone numbers illegal

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News

Published: May 22, 2018

Lawmakers keen on quashing the practice of manipulating parts of or entire phone numbers to obfuscate the caller's identity for purposes of defrauding the call recipient are expected to consider a bill that would make the trick a criminal offense.

Early last week the Ohio House of Representatives referred the bill to the Criminal Justice Committee after it was introduced last month.

Filed as House Bill 597, the measure would create the offenses of theft or conversion of a telephone number or exchange and providing misleading caller identification information.

Sponsors of the bill, Republican Reps. Keith Faber of Celina and Jonathan Dever of Madeira, acknowledged the practice known as spoofing has become problematic enough to Ohio consumers that it is time to act.

Spoofing occurs when individuals steal a phone number from a person or business and use it to contact unsuspecting individuals.

HB 597 addresses that very issue.

"I have received calls from people asking why I just called them, when I didn't," Faber said. "This affects everyone.

"It interrupts our dinner time, our work day, our daily routines and it fools our family, friends, colleagues, and community members."

The lawmaker said, at a time when smart phones are almost an extension of an individual, using someone else's number and pretending to be someone else is identify fraud.

As a result of changing the area code or exchange, call recipients may be tempted to take an unwanted call from a telemarketer.

The bill would prohibit using or repeating a telephone number, exchange, or misleading caller identification information that is not assigned to that person, with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.

Offenders who steal a phone number would be charged with a felony of the fifth degree and those providing misleading caller identification information would be charged with a felony of the fourth degree.

Penalties would be subject to increase if the victim is of a protected class, a press release noted.

"Faked phone numbers are just another tool criminals, scammers, and cheats use to exploit vulnerable, hard-working Ohioans," Ohio Attorney General DeWine said in a prepared statement. "Whether it's a criminal calling pretending to be from the IRS or a debt collector using a number that belongs to your county auditor, it's abusive and we need to shut it down."

HB 597 would give the attorney general's office and local law enforcement a way to go after these people, he added.

"This bill is about the consumer, especially protecting our senior citizens and others in the protected class," Dever said. "These penalties are serious and demonstrate how serious Ohio is about protecting its consumers.

"It is hard to tell who is behind the screens these days and it is time to bring some transparency to our phones and defend our ownership of our phone numbers."

The lawmakers noted that the bill does not apply to individuals using unknown or blocked phone numbers.

Additionally, an individual injured by a violation would have a cause of action and be entitled to remedies including the goods and services agreed to without an obligation to pay.

"For too long, consumers have been paying for phones only to have them hijacked by unscrupulous scammers and telemarketers who spoof their numbers using whatever methods they can to get a consumer to answer the phone," state Auditor Dave Yost said in support of the measure. "Once they answer a spoofed number, consumers are too often further led into deceitful actions to steal their identity.

"The legislation introduced today is long-overdue for many consumers. It will help to protect consumers from the trickery of not knowing who is really behind the numbers on their caller ID. With the passage of this legislation, those caught using caller ID information in the future to mislead consumers will face a fourth-degree penalty."

A hearing for the measure, which enjoys cosponsorhip support of nine fellow House members, had not been scheduled at time of publication.

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