Senate Bill Would Make It Illegal To Go
 “Phishing” In Pa
 

Combating identity theft remains a priority of Senator Regola

The Pennsylvania Senate took action during the session week of November 19^th to stop computer scammers from victimizing unsuspecting Pennsylvanians as part of its activities, according to Senator Bob Regola (R-39).

On Monday, the Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 390, legislation cosponsored by Sen. Regola that would make it illegal to go “phishing” in Pennsylvania.

Phishing is a crime in which people use e-mail to falsely claim to be an established enterprise in an effort to lure people to a Web site to collect personal data, such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers, or passwords.  Often the Web site that people are lured to resembles established businesses, such as eBay, PayPal, or online banks.

“I am pleased that this legislation received unanimous support in the Senate and I hope the House will act quickly to put this law in place,” said Sen. Regola.  “We have seen far too many cases  where people have unknowingly given out their personal information and ended up losing thousands of dollars to scam artists.  We need to aggressively prosecute this fraud in Pennsylvania.”

Senate Bill 390 would make it a felony offense to phish personal information and would carry a fine of $100,000 for each violation, along with the ability to collect damages up to three times the actual amount, if the court so rules, as well as attorney fees.

Sen. Regola, a leader in the General Assembly’s ongoing efforts to address the misuse of technology to commit crimes such as ID theft and phishing, is the prime sponsor of SB 460, legislation that would prohibit the use of false Caller ID information, a practice known as “spoofing,” by identity thieves and hucksters as a way to trick individuals into taking their calls.

“Caller ID spoofing has emerged as a tool for identity thieves and scam artists.  These unscrupulous individuals will use false numbers and identification to make it appear that they are calling from another legitimate location,” said Sen. Regola.  “They know that most people will ignore their calls if they allow their correct information to be displayed on a Caller ID screen.”

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Contact:  Nathan Silcox (717) 787-6063