Spam Calls Would Be Prohibited Under New State Bill

Monday, December 4th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(Anya van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) Spam calls that use false or misleading caller ID to commit fraud would be prohibited under a bipartisan proposal in the Wisconsin Legislature.

According to Anya van Wagtendonk with Wisconsin Public Radio, the spam call bill would make a person or company pay a fine of up to $10,000 if they knowingly use inaccurate caller ID information, a practice known as "spoofing."

Law enforcement or people following court orders allowing the use of inaccurate caller ID would be exempt. At a public hearing earlier this month, the bill's GOP authors said their plan will help prevent phone scams that disproportionately target elderly Wisconsinites.

"More than simply being a nuisance, these calls are often used in furtherance of scams, fraud and identity theft," said Rep. Ty Bodden, R-Hilbert. For example, a scammer could pretend to be calling from the Internal Revenue Service and ask a person for their Social Security number.

They could seem to be calling from a bank in order to access account details. Or they could simply pick a recognizable area code so that a person answers an unknown number, presuming that it’s someone from their community.

The spoofing practice is "frighteningly easy" for bad actors to utilize, said Teresa Murray, who directs the Consumer Watchdog program at the Public Interest Research Group.

While there is limited research about the scope of spoofing specifically, Murray said that federal research shows that losses due to phone scams have skyrocketed in recent years. Nationwide, they jumped to $40 billion in 2022, up from $9 billion in 2018.

The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, also values the time that Americans lose to spam calls at about $3 billion per year. The Wisconsin proposal would add further restrictions on telecommunications practices that are already federally regulated.

Phone providers are required to try to block automated scam phone calls, sometimes known as robocalls, and consumers can join the Do Not Call list, which companies are mandated to comply with.

Regulating peoples' ability to block their phone numbers, as the Wisconsin bill does, goes a step further, Murray said.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.