LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION urging the New York State Congressional deleg-
ation to enact legislation requiring phone companies to have a "trigger"
freezing small business accounts when evidence of hacking occurs

WHEREAS, A phone hacking ring, with possible connections to Al Qaeda,
has hacked dozens of small businesses' phone systems in New York, cost-
ing them hundreds of thousands of dollars; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been urged to
focus on, and consider regulations related to this major issue, which is
wreaking havoc on companies' budgets; and
WHEREAS, Already, dozens of New York small businesses have fallen prey
to these hackers through their voicemail systems, and are often forced
to cover the cost for weeks-worth of overseas calls; and
WHEREAS, The telecom industry and the Federal Communications Commis-
sion (FCC) must do more to detect these fraudsters, to stop or prevent
the deceptive charges as quickly as possible, and to protect small busi-
ness owners from the financial impact; and
WHEREAS, This fraud has occurred repeatedly in New York when hackers
discover a loophole in the voicemail system and use this to make long-
distance calls that can cost thousands of dollars; and
WHEREAS, If the telephone communication providers have limited fraud
detection systems, the scam can occur over a series of days or even
weeks, and many of these victims are left with a bill of hundreds of
thousands of dollars; and
WHEREAS, Companies should block international calls and disable remote
notification and call forwarding features; and
WHEREAS, This widespread scam is targeting New York companies; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the New York State Congressional delegation be and
hereby is respectfully memorialized by this Legislative Body to enact
legislation to require the telephone communication industry and the FCC
to immediately take steps to provide stringent fraud detection services
for small business phone lines and to eliminate the charges for small
businesses; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause further to require the
telephone communication industry and the FCC to regulate these changes
to better detect voicemail fraud; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to each member of the Congressional delegation from the State of
New York.