Judiciary Committee Greenlights Neuman's 'Phishing' Bill

The House Judiciary Committee this past week approved legislation introduced by state that he said would protect Pennsylvania consumers and businesses from identity theft scams known as "phishing."

The bill now goes before the full House for consideration.

"The number of these scams has exploded in the past decade, and the perpetrators are becoming increasingly sophisticated and more difficult to identify," Neuman, D-, explained. "Unfortunately, we've found that novice and experienced Internet users both are susceptible to this crime. For example, a criminal will send an email posing as a bank corporation, and attempt to dupe the recipient into revealing personal account and identity information. My bill would impose prison time and financial penalties for these types of offenses and make it clear where Pennsylvania stands on Internet crime.”

House Bill 1156 would make it a crime for a person or entity to misrepresent itself as a legitimate business in email or on the Internet in an attempt to solicit private financial or personal information from consumers and steal from the victim. This private information can include computer passwords, bank account numbers or other confidential information.

Under the bill, "phishers" could be found guilty of a second-degree felony, sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to $25,000. They could also be subject to civil damages.