Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier is proposing legislation aimed at cracking down on spam calls.
It’s called the Florida Anti-Spam Communications Act.
The bill would try to tackle these calls by upping criminal charges for fraudsters and scammers — elevating the misdemeanor charge to a felony with mandatory jail time.
“Right now, if somebody is fraudulently sending text messages to unwanted recipients, it’s often just prosecuted as a misdemeanor, a slap on the wrist, no real punishment, no real jail time,” Uthmeier said.
“It’s fraud. It is people trying to deceive you and steal your money. That needs to be a heightened felony.”
It would also put legal requirements on phone providers to authenticate caller ID, answer traceback requests and cut off unlawful campaigns.
It also aims to strengthen the state’s telemarketing consent law, educate the public — specifically seniors — and authorize the state’s Department of Legal Affairs to “investigate spam calls and texts to seek injunctions, restitution, and civil penalties on its own, including against those who sell or traffic in illegally obtained records.”
“Bring the heat in court, prosecute them, get the money back, and put them behind bars,” Uthmeier said.
Brooke Shepherd, a Jacksonville resident, says her days begin and end with spam calls.
“I think I get about, I don’t know, maybe 15 spam calls within the hour,” Shepherd said. “It’s to the point where they’ll spam call me, and they won’t even let it ring — They’ll call me, hang up, and then send a text right after.”
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The state’s prosecution team says some of the most common scams involve fraudsters impersonating IRS agents or other government officials.
They say this looks like receiving a phone call or text saying you owe money to the IRS, you missed jury duty and have a warrant out for your arrest, and a variety of other tactics.
“If the cops want to arrest you, if there’s a warrant out for your arrest, they typically don’t call you to schedule it,” Uthmeier said.
Kareem Barakzoy, a St. Augustine resident and student at the University of North Florida, says his grandfather has sent credit card information to these scammers before. He says these scams affect more than just the victim.
“It affects their family because then we have to solve it,” Barakzoy said. “Okay, how do we get your credit card information back? Because you just lost this amount of money because someone preyed upon you.”
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But before your phone even rings, you can avoid these calls altogether.
First, you can silence unknown callers.
If you have an iPhone, you can do this by going to your “Settings,” selecting “Apps,” then tapping “Phone,” and turning on “Silence Unknown Callers.” If you have an Android, go to your Phone app, then Settings, then select “Caller ID and spam,” and turn on “Filter spam calls” or “Spam auto-blocking.”
You can also enable AI-screening, which requires callers to state their reason for calling before you hear it ring.
For an iPhone, you’ll find this under “Settings,” then “Apps,” then “Phone.” After you tap “Phone,” scroll down to “Screen Unknown Callers” and select “Ask Reason for Calling.” For an Android, you open your Phone app, then Settings, and turn on “Call Screen” or “Call Screening.”
You can also add your number to the national Do Not Call Registry, though this only works for legal telemarketers.
If you continue to receive a seemingly endless stream of spam calls, you can also report the numbers and file complaints directly through the FTC Report Fraud site.
Some other tips to follow are to never answer your phone to unknown numbers or engage in text prompts, even ones that say “reply STOP to stop messaging.” Answering your phone and replying to text messages signals that your number is active and could lead to more spam calls or texts.
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