Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is asking state lawmakers to create a broader enforcement system for scam calls and texts, including schemes that use spoofed numbers, fake warrants and undisclosed artificial-intelligence voices. The proposed Florida Anti-Spam Communications Act would also target the equipment behind mass campaigns, but it has not been filed or enacted and could change before the Legislature considers it.
Uthmeier announced the proposal on September 17, describing phone and text fraud as an enforcement gap that has widened as criminals adopt voice cloning and automated messaging. Under the outline reported by FOX 13 and Spectrum, impersonating an official, using a spoofed number, sending a fake warrant or using an undisclosed AI voice to obtain money would be treated as communications fraud. High-volume or high-loss conduct could trigger enhanced felony penalties and mandatory prison terms.
The proposal would also make possession or importation of a phone farm or SIM farm a felony and classify the equipment as contraband. Those systems can operate many subscriber-identity modules at once, allowing a campaign to send large numbers of calls or messages from one location. The Department of Legal Affairs would gain explicit authority to investigate scam communications, pursue injunctions and restitution, and seek civil penalties.
Florida already regulates telephone solicitation. The current statute generally bars unsolicited automated sales calls without prior express written consent, prohibits callers from intentionally disguising their voices to defraud recipients and gives consumers a private right of action. It also gives a solicitor 15 days after a consumer replies “STOP” to end text solicitations. A separate provision limits commercial solicitation hours, caps repeated calls on the same subject and makes deliberate caller-ID concealment a misdemeanor.
That existing framework matters because the proposal is not simply a ban on nuisance calls. It would shift more responsibility toward service providers and create criminal consequences for tools used at scale. Consumers would still need to distinguish unlawful fraud from permitted calls, while businesses would face a potentially faster timetable for processing opt-outs.
Uthmeier’s framework would go beyond current rules by requiring communications providers to authenticate caller identification, answer traceback requests and disconnect a named unlawful campaign after written notice. It would also shorten the window for honoring text opt-outs. A legal analysis noted that the proposal would add a state layer to federal caller-authentication requirements while potentially creating new compliance costs for legitimate telemarketers.
The attorney general’s office says Florida’s statewide prosecution team has recovered nearly $10 million for scam victims this year. That figure, cited by both FOX 13 and Spectrum, provides context for the push but does not measure how much fraud remains unreported.
The immediate next step is legislative, not enforcement. Lawmakers would need bill language defining the penalties, provider obligations and opt-out deadline. Until that happens, Floridians remain covered by existing state and federal rules; the announced framework is a policy request rather than a new legal mandate.
