LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At least 300 people have filed official complaints about those annoying spoof calls in Kentucky, but chances are there are hundreds or thousands more going unreported. A new law could cost those tricking you into picking up the call thousands of dollars. But even the lawmaker behind the plan admits it’s a tough case to crack.
Spoofing is the act of using a fake caller ID to trick someone into taking a call. Sometimes it's hard to tell if the call coming in is a scam but, for a Louisville woman it became clear very quickly because those calls are coming from her own number. Still she's like many others, unsure whether the new law is going to stop these annoying calls for good.
"It's pretty frustrating,” said Kat Gallagher, “it's one of those things where it is a constant interruption of your day."
For Kat, that means a dozen or more interruptions on some days. She tries to ignore them because most are clearly not real since they're ringing in from her own number.
"I think that my phone kind of rings off the hook,” she explained. “I got called by myself five times once when I was in a doctor's appointment.”
"They would come in waves,” she said of the calls. “I would get fifteen calls and then maybe I wouldn't hear from myself for a couple of days. And then I would call myself probably fifteen to twenty times in a week.”
Kentucky lawmakers passed and Governor Matt Bevin signed House Bill 84 this year, it became law this summer.
The Attorney General's office told me that they've received 300 reports since the law hit the books. The bill's sponsor, Kentucky 29th District Republican State Representative Kevin Bratcher, admits that it's a tough crime to solve and prosecute.
“It's a severe penalty to make these calls,” he said. “If you're using a fake ID number, caller ID number, it's $3,000 pop. So, if they do it two or three dozen times, they're going to be owing some serious money to the State of Kentucky if the prosecutors, the Attorney Generals and the Commonwealth Attorneys will prosecute and find out who's doing this.”
Kat is like most, she has not reported the calls to the Attorney General's office because she's not sure anything can make the calls stop.
“I'm always cautiously optimistic,” she said. “I like to believe that things will work, so I have my fingers cross and I am rooting for it to work so hopefully it will.”
Attorneys General from both Indiana and Kentucky have joined all 51 of their colleagues asking the FCC to take on the issue.
The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office has launched a website to help people report these calls. You can learn more by clicking here. Here’s where you can file a complaint with the FCC.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.