OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Danny Williams, R-Seminole, passed a bill to prohibit ‘spoofing,’ which is often used by telemarketers and scammers to disguise a phone call’s origin, through the Oklahoma House of Representatives on Tuesday evening.

House Bill 1891 prohibits a commercial telephone seller or solicitor from causing misleading information to be transmitted to the call recipient’s caller identification service or to otherwise misrepresent the origin of a phone call.

“Spam calls are not only annoying but also incredibly predatory,” Williams said. “Telemarketers and scammers target elderly citizens through many methods, including spoofing, to steal their identities and hard-earned money.”

Williams said spoofing is federally illegal, but the statute is not enforced.

Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, is a co-author of the bill and previously filed similar legislation in the 2020 legislative session. House Bill 3081 ultimately passed the House floor unanimously before it was stalled in the Senate due to the COVID-19 pandemic shortening session.

HB1891 passed the floor 95-0 and may now be heard by the Senate, where it is co-authored by Sen. Zack Taylor, R-Seminole.