|
Columbus
Dispatch...
Attorney
general seeks more ways to go
after Web, phone scammers
By David Eggert
9/17/11
The
state attorney general’s office
wants the power to criminally charge suspects who defraud people using
websites
and phones.
Currently,
attorney general
investigators can subpoena phone records, Internet addresses and
payment
information only to build civil cases. They can seek fines and
restitution, but
no criminal punishment, such as jail time.
Legislation
introduced yesterday would
give the attorney general criminal subpoena power for cases of
suspected
telecommunication fraud, such as eBay and Craigslist rip-offs, or cons
in which
unwitting grandparents agree to wire money to callers posing as
grandchildren.
DeWine
said civil penalties are a
“cost of doing business” for many scam artists.
“So
they frankly need to go to jail,”
he said during a Statehouse news conference, where he was joined by
state Sen.
Kevin Bacon, R-Columbus, and prosecutors including Delaware County’s
Carol
O’Brien.
The
goal, DeWine said, is for his
office to build cyber-crime cases and turn them over to counties for
prosecution, or county prosecutors could ask the attorney general’s
office to
handle the prosecutions.
“Many
prosecutors don’t have a big
budget. They don’t have a lot of staff,” said Bacon, who pointed to
rural
areas. “It’s much easier to have one central location to assist the
county
prosecutors.”
Officials
reported that about 7,300
Ohioans lost more than $10 million because of cyber fraud last year, a
figure
DeWine suspects is low because he said many victims of fraud never
report it.
DeWine
said the legislation
complements a new effort within his consumer-protection section.
The
state received more than 30,000
consumer-protection complaints in 2010, but just two cases were
prosecuted
criminally. After taking office, DeWine set up an economic-crimes
division
within his office to turn more of those complaints into criminal cases.
The
division has obtained several
indictments and had its first conviction last week — a Cincinnati-area
man who
cheated homeowners on repair work.
In
addition to giving the attorney
general more power, the legislation also would stiffen felony penalties
for
telecommunication fraud and go after criminals who con the elderly and
disabled
with more jail time.
To
file a complaint, go to
www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/consumercomplaint
or call 1-800-282-05105.
Read
it at the Columbus Dispatch
|
