NC AG sounds alarm on prison phones, genetic data security, and toll scam

At this month’s Council of State meeting, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson discussed adding North Carolina to a letter to Congress signed by the Tennessee Attorney General and 29 other AGs. The letter urges lawmakers to pass legislation allowing states to deploy cell phone jamming systems in jails and prisons.

“Contraband cell phones in prisons are a huge problem, allowing prisoners to continue breaking the law while on the inside, direct drug trafficking, and other major crimes,” Jackson said via video call earlier this week. “Our state has a particular history with that. A few years ago, a gang member imprisoned in North Carolina used a contraband cell phone to orchestrate the kidnapping of a prosecutor’s father. This legislation would prevent drug trafficking fraud, witness intimidation, violence, and other offenses, and just help make North Carolina justice systems and communities safer.”

scams and data breach

Jackson also urged anyone who has used the genetic data website 23andMe, which recently filed for bankruptcy, to visit the site and delete their genetic data, warning that it is highly likely to be sold.

The attorney general’s office is also investigating a circulating NC Quick Pass text scam in which recipients receive fraudulent messages demanding payment for supposed unpaid tolls. The scam has become more sophisticated, using increasingly realistic links. Jackson reminded the public that NC Quick Pass will never request payment via text or threaten legal consequences over an unpaid toll.

North Carolina’s attorney general sits on the North Carolina Council of State, composed of ten elected officials and is part of the executive branch of North Carolina’s state government. 

The post NC AG sounds alarm on prison phones, genetic data security, and toll scam first appeared on Carolina Journal.