While visiting the Somerset County (New Jersey) Sheriff’s Office recently, U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) collected an important endorsement of his legislation designed to outlaw the practice of “spoofing,” in which con artists disguise their phone numbers on Caller ID to make it appear they are calling from legitimate government entities, such as police departments.
Somerset County Sheriff Frank Provenzano is endorsing Lance’s bill, the Anti-Spoofing Act of 2015, after scammers used his office’s phone number to run a scheme to impersonate his staff and steal personal information from local residents.
Lance recently introduced the bill with fellow Reps. Grace Meng (D-NY) and Joe Barton (R-TX).
Seeing a false phone number for a government agency, bank, police department, credit card company, pharmacy or hospital, unsuspecting call recipients often panic and disclose personal or financial information, which the scammers then use to commit fraud.
“The problem of caller ID spoofing has gotten out of control,” Lance said. “Millions of Americans continue to get ripped off by con artists and scammers who perpetrate this despicable crime, many losing thousands of dollars. It is way past time to stop this disgraceful practice, and this legislation would go a long way toward accomplishing that critical goal. And now spoofers are impersonating Somerset County’s sheriff’s office as another way to defraud people. I thank Sheriff Provenzano for joining me in this effort to stop these crimes.”
“I strongly support the legislation Congressman Lance has put forward and feel this bill will increase the safety and security of not only the residents of Somerset County, but the entire nation,” Provenzano said. “As I mentioned in the past, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office always serves warrants in person and will never call residents for money or personal information. I am also asking the national media to continue to notify the public about these scams. I feel that this legislation will give us the tools to fully prosecute the people who take advantage of the unsuspecting public.”
Lance has represented New Jersey’s Seventh District in the House since 2009. Born in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1952, Lance previously served in the New Jersey Senate from 2002 to 2009. Lance was educated at Lehigh University and serves on the following committees: House Energy and Commerce.