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The Ohio Senate is looking to move a new bill that would make it a felony to make a spoof or spam phone call using someone else’s phone number.
We all have received these annoying calls that come from numbers similar to your own to make it look like a person you know is making that call.
These calls have cost victims thousands of dollars.
“It’s just misleading and to me, it’s identity theft,” said Sen. Dave Burke (R – Marysville), who is sponsoring a bill to make these calls a crime. “When you call somebody, the number should align with the person who is actually calling, not a fictitious friend or a fictitious vendor.”
Senate Bill 145 would make it a felony to use someone else’s phone number to mask your own while making a call.
The Better Business Bureau recommends people don’t answer calls from numbers they don’t recognize, keep their contact list up to date and don’t use automated menus from numbers they don’t know.
The BBB said the FBI has been able to take down several overseas companies who have been making scam calls.
“Don’t be clicking on any of the buttons,” said Kip Morse with the BBB of Central Ohio. “Don’t believe if you click 4 that you’re going to be put on the ‘Do Not Call’ list, it’s not going to happen. It actually puts you on a list where you get more phone calls. They’re trying to find out if they have an active phone number and if they have somebody they can engage with and so you don’t want to be an active phone number for a scammer.”
Source: ABC6.com
New bill focuses penalties for spam phone calls in Ohio was originally published on mycolumbuspower.com
