North Carolina lawmakers filed a bill Wednesday to crack down on phone scammers.
Truth in Caller ID Act would prohibit any telephone solicitor from causing misleading information to be transmitted to users of caller identification technologies or otherwise block or misrepresent the origin of the telephone solicitation.
Neighbor spoofing is designed to mask the caller’s identity by using a local number in hopes of you answering the phone thinking it’s someone you know.
The bill would prohibit telemarketers from using local numbers and require them to use their business number or information.
State House Speaker Tim Moore is one of three lawmakers who sponsored the bill.
“I hear it from my friends and neighbors, the people I represent, everywhere I go,” Moore said. “The constant use of misleading phone numbers by telemarketers disrupts their businesses and daily lives. Requiring telephone solicitors to accurately identify who they are is a commonsense reform to help families and businesses inundated with sales calls.”
Federal law already bans the practice.
If passed into law, the Truth in Caller ID Act would become effective December 1, 2019.
