State Senator Dave Burke, of Marysville, has introduced legislation that would make many fake or spam cell phone calls illegal. He recently announced the bill at a press conference with State Representatives Keith Faber and Jonathan Dever along with Ohio Auditor Dave Yost and representative from the Ohio Attorney General’s office.
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Dave Burke says he is afraid to answer his phone.
The State Senator and Marysville area pharmacist said “the majority” of calls he receives anymore are either from a ghosted number or from someone who received a ghost call from his phone number.
Recently scammers and some businesses have taken to calling consumers on their cell phones. The caller will mask their true phone number and program the call to look as if it is coming from a local number. By using a local number, recipients are more likely to answer the call.
“This has been an incestuous problem that has only magnified and now most of my phone calls are trash phone calls,” Burke said.
He said the majority of the calls he receives on his cell phone are spam. Many of the others are from people who believe he called them.
“Now I am not only getting calls from the ghost phone numbers, I am getting calls from real people asking why I am calling them about a vacation timeshare,” Burke said.
He said those are “the majority” of the calls he receives.
“I am afraid to answer my phone so everything goes to voice mail,” Burke said.
Burke said that anyone has the right to call anyone else. He said it becomes “abusive” when the calls come frequently from a number, faked to look local.
The senator said that other identification numbers are protected. He said it would be identity fraud to use someone else’s social security number, bank account number, tax identification number or any other number.
He added that if someone came to your door and rang the bell, more than a half dozen times a day, “that would be harassment.”
Burke said that while he can ignore his phone, he feels for those who cannot.
“What happens to people who their livelihood depends on them answering the phone,” Burke said.
He cited the example of a plumber who receives calls for service. He said that if the plumber ignores the call, the potential customer moves to another provider.
“We have to protect people that have to use their cellphones, people who need them to feed their family,” Burke said.
The senator said he has spoken to numerous people and received many e-mails from people asking him to help.
“This is the classic, ‘They ought to make a law against that’ situation,” Burke said.
Burke along with State Representatives Keith Faber and Jonathan Dever recently introduced companion legislation making it illegal to spoof or ghost a number for the purpose of fraud.
“It makes it a felony offense to basically steal someone’s phone number and pretend to be that person for the purpose of trying to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value,” Burke said.
He said the offense would be enhanced if it were committed against an elderly person or a veteran.
Burke said that by introducing similar, or companion, legislation in both the house and senate, it will speed the process, “and hopefully push this bill across the finish line this year.”
He added the legislation, “isn’t super exciting, but it is important to people because it impacts their daily lives.”
Burke said that Ohio alone cannot stop the callers, but if other states join, together they can. He said if the callers are international, the federal government needs to step in.
The senator said he believes that one “really good” conviction would force businesses to change the way they operate.
“We need to start bringing the curve back in the consumer’s favor rather than in the abuser’s favor, which is where we are now,” Burke said.
Legislators said the Federal Do Not Call List, which provided civil penalties for violators, used to be effective but was difficult to enforce and eventually scammers learned and adapted.
Faber said “there is no question it is going to be time consuming” to catch violators.
“That’s why it needs to be a deterrent and the best thing you can do in environments where somebody is creating a serious offense is make sure the effort to catch them is commensurate with the offense and the sanction and this (bill) does that,” Faber said.
He said the bill also makes using someone’s phone number like this is a specific violation of the Consumer Sales Practice Act. Faber said this means consumers can seek civil penalties against violators in addition to the criminal penalties.
Burke called the legislation “a good first bite at the apple.”
“I don’t know that you are going to see an overnight change once this is passed, but it is a start,” Burke said.
He said without a first step, “the problem will only get worse.”