I remember being a kid and either receiving or occasionally giving the classic 90s phone pranks... "Is your fridge running? ... Yes?! Well you'd better go catch it!" It was hilarious to an 8 year old with her sisters. As technology has gotten more and more advanced so have the way pranks and scams are done. Now there are phone apps that can do the prank for you with a set of already prerecorded prank calls. Probably not the best idea. Especially after reading this.

According to Idaho News Chanel 2, An Idaho man is facing a $9.9 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) due to using a service like this. However it wasn't something as innocent and silly as chasing a running refrigerator. Allegedly Scott D. Rhodes sent racist, anti-Semitic and harassing robocalls to tens of thousands of phones across eight states. That is a lot of time spent and dedication to making people feel bad and that is not ok.

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The FCC just announced the massive $9.9 million fine a little over a week ago. According to the FCC, Scott D. Rhodes repeatedly violated the Truth in Caller ID Act by manipulating the calls to make them appear local. The calls started in 2018 and the Daily Inter Lake reported that the calls targeted Black and Jewish politicians, a journalist, an Iowa community grieving the killing of a local college student and the murder case against an avowed white supremacist who drove into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Prank calls seem to be a thing of the past and if they are in a negative and hurtful way like this clearly was then yes, they should stay in the past. However, if you get a call from a 208 number and have someone asking if your fridge is running, it may just be me trying to spark that childhood glee.

Do you think the nearly $10 million fine is going too far? What do you think should be done?

 

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