Latest news with #HB1007
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘Kill the Grinch:' Bill to define, penalize gift card fraud clears Florida Senate
Scammers like gift cards. Many over-the-phone and texting scams involve asking the victim to pay fake fines, penalties or tax payments via gift card rather than cash or check as they are untraceable. Card draining, where scammers steal cards, copy the information and put the cards back into a store for an unsuspecting person to buy and activate has become a growing concern. Several people have been arrested in Florida recently with sacks of stolen or altered cards. Under a Senate bill passed unanimously Wednesday, Florida will be cracking down on gift card scams. SB 1198 defines gift card fraud in Florida law and makes it a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by $1,000 in fines and up to a year in jail. That includes tampering with cards or their packaging or trying to acquire a gift card or gift card redemption information without the permission of its owner, the retailer or the company issuing it and using it to obtain "money, goods, or services or anything else of value." If the aggregated value of the ill-gotten gains exceeds $750, the crime becomes a third-degree felony punishable by $5,000 in fines and up to five years in prison. 'A 'yes' vote on this bill will kill the Grinch,' Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-St. Augustine, the bill's sponsor, said before the floor vote Wednesday. The companion House bill, HB 1007, has passed through two committees. Florida is a popular target for scammers. Last year, there were 474,614 reports of fraud, the FTC said, the third-highest in the country behind California and Texas, but we're No. 1 in reports per 100,000 people. In 2023, Florida residents lost more than $460,000, according to the FTC's latest annual Internet Crime Report. Scammers come at you in lots of ways. You get contacted by someone saying they're from the IRS or FPL or somewhere telling you that you owe money and need to pay immediately to avoid penalties or jail You're contacted by a company you know, telling you they spotted fraud on one of your accounts and need your help to make sure your money is safe An email or text, apparently from your boss, arrives after work hours asking for a favor The person you've fallen in love with over a brief, intense period of online interaction needs some money right away A great job opportunity needs a deposit first You get asked to be a mystery shopper or to help with a bank investigation Someone who sounds a lot like a loved one calls you in desperate need of bail or airfare, or even ransom And all of them ask you to pay them in gift cards, sometimes with the promise of money for you that will never come. However, some gift card scammers rip you off without ever knowing who you are. In the last few months in Florida and around the U.S., gift card scammers have been stealing cards in stores, copying the numbers, and sneaking them back into stores among the other cards to be sold. When an unsuspecting person buys and activates the card, the scammer sees that in the online status and immediately drains the card's balance before the legitimate owner has a chance to use it. 'This is a complicated scheme where they're going in, taking as many as they can, taking them home, stripping them out of the packaging, taking down the information, repackaging it, putting it back in the store, somebody's unexpectedly buying them and giving them to a loved one, a family member, whatever, as a gift," said Rep. Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs. "So, very complicated, very complex." Just before Christmas last year, Donghui Liao pleaded guilty to possession of 15 or more counterfeit or unauthorized access devices after Ocala police said he was seen on video switching real gift cards for fake ones at a local Target. At the time of his arrest, he had enough cards to defraud Target out of more than $1.8 million. Two people from China were arrested on similar accusations in Stuart the same month. Investigators believe they were also linked to thefts at stores in Orlando, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Naples, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami. In January, Naples police arrested two Latvian men on charges of stealing gift cards from two Walgreens and a Publix as a detective followed them. Along with what they had just taken, they also had a bag of 176 cards worth about $15,000. Ohio County deputies busted a Fort Lauderdale man last year and found 748 gift cards worth about $374,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in West Virginia. In 2024, gift card scams and card draining accounted for $212 million lost from scams nationwide, according to the latest data released by the Federal Trade Commission. "Know that no legitimate company or government agency will require payment via gift cards," the Florida Attorney General's Office said. "If someone claims otherwise, it is a scam." Some ways to avoid getting scammed: Never send gift cards in response to a solicitation Avoid sharing card numbers or PINs Never send a gift card to a solicitor claiming a loved one is in trouble Do not deposit checks received from unknown individuals, especially if they request repayment via gift card Purchase gift cards directly from the card's merchant, don't use little-known, third-party sites When buying a gift card at a store, take it to the counter and inspect it to make sure the package has not been torn or resealed. With permission from an employee, open the package and make sure the cards have not already been scratched with the account number or PIN code visible. If there are even minor scratches or signs of tampering, report it to the store and do not buy it. If passed by the Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the bill would go into effect Oct. 1, 2025. This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Gift card scams bill in Florida would crack down on fraud, theft
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Legislators look into nuclear reactors; advocates concerned
ANDERSON — A trio of bills working their way through the Indiana General Assembly are designed to bolster the production and eventual use of small modular reactors, a carbon-free means of generating electricity. But some of the particulars of the legislation are prompting concerns from environmental advocates. House Bill 1007, authored by Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, provides tax credits to manufacturers of small modular reactors, or SMRs. The factory-built form of nuclear reactor is capable of producing at least 300 megawatts of electricity. Two other bills, Senate Bills 423 and 424, would start an SMR pilot program in which utility companies could collaborate with 'eligible partners' to develop SMR sites and allow utility companies to request that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission shoulder at least some of the project costs. Both bills passed the Senate last week and were set for consideration by the House; HB 1007 passed the House Ways and Means Committee. 'Our goal in this ongoing endeavor is keep Indiana competitive in the national and world marketplace by keeping our five foundational energy pillars — reliability, affordability, resilient, stability and environmental sustainability — in balance,' Soliday, who chairs the House Utilities Committee, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. Sam Carpenter, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, believes that goal is more of a dream than a reality. SMRs, unlike other forms of clean energy such as wind and solar, are unprecedented, Carpenter said, noting that no utility-based SMR sites are currently in operation in the United States. 'Costs are going to be high for the next 10 to 20 years,' he said. 'We don't think that rate payers should pay for the permitting, the planning, the development costs — which will be possible should these bills pass — associated with unproven technology.' Carpenter's sentiments were echoed in a feasibility study published in 2023 by Purdue University and Duke Energy. One of the study's conclusions was that the lack of sites make estimating costs difficult. The issue of costs is especially worrisome to Carpenter, who noted that several attempts to produce SMRs have been abandoned due to high costs. In 2023, Utah Associated Muncipal Power Systems abandoned its SMR power plant project after costs reached $9.3 billion. Kati Austgen, senior project manager of the new nuclear sector of the Nuclear Energy Institute, noted that costs could be halved through a federal investment tax credit among other funding avenues. SMRs can also be installed in existing facilities like retired coal power plants, though installing the infrastructure could take a number of years. Carpenter fears that the state's latest push will disproportionately impact the average ratepayer. Companies like Tesla or Rolls Royce should be worried about funding SMRs, not the Legislature, he said. Austgen said rate payers will be impacted to some degree or another. 'The ratepayers do (typically) pay a portion of the cost,' she said. Carpenter recommended that Indiana prioritize solar and wind, which he believes are proven and comparatively inexpensive. Austgen suggested a mixed energy portfolio for Indiana. She said multiple studies have shown that the cost of nuclear energy is on par with the cost of renewables, provided that certain conditions are met. 'In order for renewables to be considered firm and available at all times, they have to be paired with battery backup or storage. It needs to be long duration storage,' Austgen said. 'Some of that battery technology, storage technology is also unproven and still in development.' SMRs also raise safety concerns for environmental advocates like Carpenter, who noted that nuclear plants can be prone to meltdowns. Nuclear meltdowns occur when a reactor's fuel rods overheat and eventually become exposed to the open air. These reactors rely on radioactive materials to generate electricity. Such materials, if left in the open, can be harmful to humans. Most nuclear reactors use uranium, a radioactive element associated with diseases such as kidney disease, cancer and, in some cases, birth defects. 'If we have SMRs around Indiana, we have all those targets or potential liabilities,' Carpenter said. Austgen said reactors' safety features have improved and will continue to improve over time, hopefully resulting in fewer accidents. She noted that nuclear sites are of special interest to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which monitors power plants and makes sure safety requirements are met. 'We (the nuclear industry) ensure that for the health and safety of our employees as well as our communities that we are continuously monitoring and containing any radiation,' Austgen said. 'The public health and safety limits are set such that no one gets any radiation from living near a nuclear power plant.'
