NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6005
SPONSOR: Griffin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crimes of
spoofing a police agency telephone number in the first and second
degrees
PURPOSE:
This legislation creates the crime of spoofing a police agency in the
second degree a Class A misdemeanor, as well as the crime of spoofing a
police agency in the first degree a class E Felony.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one creates the crime of spoofing a police agency in the second
degree. This crime would apply when a person, with intent to defraud,
harass, annoy or alarm another person, places a, telephone call and
causes their Caller ID information to display a phone number of a police
agency or any other political subdivision of this state. This crime
would be classified as an A misdemeanor.
Section two creates the crime of spoofing a police agency in the first
degree. This crime would apply when a person, with intent to defraud,
harass, annoy or alarm another person, places a telephone call and caus-
es their Caller ID information to display a phone number of a police
agency or any political subdivision of this state, having previously
been convicted of spoofing a police agency in the second degree within
the prior ten years. This crime would be classified as an E felony.
Section 3 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill will criminalize the act of spoofing a police or political
subdivision phone number. Spoofing involves impersonating the phone
number or other Caller ID information of another, making it appear to
the receiver of the call that the spoofed entity is contacting them.
This trickery is especially problematic when the receiver of the call
believes that a police or governmental entity is communicating with
them.
Copying police phone numbers, or the phone number of a political subdi-
vision, could cause the receiver of the phone call to erroneously
believe that they needed to respond to certain questions, or take
certain actions. This could
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6005
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 25, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GRIFFIN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the crimes of
spoofing a police agency telephone number in the first and second
degrees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 190.90 to
2 read as follows:
3 § 190.90 Spoofing a police agency telephone number in the second degree.
4 A person is guilty of spoofing a police agency telephone number in the
5 second degree when, with intent to defraud another person or to harass,
6 annoy, threaten, or alarm another person, such person places a telephone
7 call whereby the ID display of the person receiving the call displays a
8 phone number of a police agency of this state or any political subdivi-
9 sion of this state or displays any other information that would indicate
10 that such phone call was placed by a police agency of this state or any
11 political subdivision of this state.
12 Spoofing a police agency telephone number in the second degree is a
13 class A misdemeanor.
14 § 2. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 190.95 to read
15 as follows:
16 § 190.95 Spoofing a police agency telephone number in the first degree.
17 A person is guilty of spoofing a police agency telephone number in the
18 first degree when such person commits the crime of spoofing a police
19 agency telephone number in the second degree and such person has been
20 previously convicted within the last ten years of spoofing a police
21 agency telephone number in the second degree or spoofing a police agency
22 telephone number in the first degree.
23 Spoofing a police agency telephone number in the first degree is a
24 class E felony.
25 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
26 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07953-01-5
