Yuma residents feeling relieved about possible anti-robocalling bill

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan TRACED Act.

The proposal would crack down on illegal robocalls, as well as criminally prosecute perpetrators of such calls who intentionally try to scam people.

It’s not surprising that members of the Senate almost unanimously voted in favor of the traced act because they may also receive some of the 48 million robocalls that were made last year.

According to a scam trends report, 42% of calls in 2019 alone have been spam.

News 11 spoke to Yuma residents who say they are tired of being bombarded with these annoying calls.

Frank Hunter said, ” Every couple of days I get one claiming to be the Marriott. No matter how many times I block them, they find a way to call me from a different number. ”

Jane DeLaurier said she gets even more of these robocalls, at least 4 to 5 daily.

” It’s ridiculous. It’s absurd and it’s frustrating. And it’s a waste of my time, ” said DeLaurier .

Although the calls are annoying to some, there are others that actually get scammed by the illegal calls.

George Mitchell said he received a call that claimed to be from the Social Security Administration and said, ” They wanted the last four digits of my social security number, I gave it to them. They typed it into their computer and said I was being investigated by the police. ”

Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema , urges the house to quickly pass the legislation, to start protecting citizens, like Mitchell, from being fooled and taken advantage of by robocalls.

The bill will now move to the House of Representatives where it awaits approval.