It ain’t me! South Australian MP fed up with robocalls claiming to be her

Member for Mayo Rebekha Sharkie has told voters ‘it ain’t me!’ after she was flooded with complaints about robocalls allegedly impersonating her.

A South Australian MP has been flooded with complaints about phone calls allegedly impersonating her — as she fights to retain her seat in Mayo.

Rebekha Sharkie has said the calls were news to her, and she was made aware of the robocall on Wednesday night after being contacted by a constituent who was interrupted by her “lame message” during their dinner.

After posting her concern about the robocall on social media, Ms Sharkie soon received a flurry of emails and messages from Centre Alliance volunteers, and friends, saying they too thought they had received calls from her.

“I don’t do robocalls,” Ms Sharkie said.

“So it was important to put a message out on social media to let people know it wasn’t me.”

Ms Sharkie said she was yet to hear the message herself and was seeking more details to investigate.

“I have asked to people to provide me with a recording and then I can assess the next step,” she said.

I received a message tonight that people received calls with a voice msg impersonating me. I have NEVER robocalled anyone & NEVER will. If you received a call & have a copy or phone number please let me know this needs to be properly investigated. Thank you. #MayoVotes #auspol

— Rebekha Sharkie MP (@MakeMayoMatter) 17 April 2019

“I received a message tonight that people received calls with a voice msg impersonating me. I have NEVER robocalled anyone & NEVER will,” Ms Sharkie wrote on Twitter.

“If you received a call & have a copy or phone number please let me know, this needs to be properly investigated.”

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Centre Alliance member for Mayo Rebekha Sharkie is fed up with robocalls annoying SA voters. Picture: AAP

Neither Ms Sharkie or her team had heard the calls so they’ve been unable to verify who is responsible or what is said in them.

It’s unknown if it’s an impersonator or if someone is claiming to represent her.

A Coalition campaign spokeswoman said: “The Liberal Party is not using robocalls in the electorate of Mayo.”

Her team said during the Mayo by-election in 2018 a series of unauthorised calls went around that were voiced by a woman talking about Ms Sharkie.

In February Ms Sharkie’s party, the Centre Alliance began a fight against robocalls in parliament.

Palmer’s spam calls were poorly received by voters. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Their measures were announced after Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party bombarded frustrated Australians with calls.

South Australian Senator Stirling Griff introduced the bill to change the Spam Act.

He pushed to give Australians more control over unsolicited calls from political parties and registered charities.

Ms Sharkie’s team said she fully supported these changes and did not want to annoy voters Currently, even Australians who opt to be on the Do Not Call register can receive political calls ahead of election dates.

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Calls are allowed as long as they do not try and sell products or solicit donations.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority advises that if you do not want to hear these calls to hang up.

Residents call complain about political calls if the caller fails to identify themselves, provide contact information if requested, display a return contact number and end the call when asked.

Telemarketing calls can only be made between 9am-8pm Monday-Friday and Saturday 9am-5pm. Polling calls can also be made on Sunday between 9am and 5pm. No calls are allowed on public holidays.

Last year Get Out filmmaker Jordan Peele showed how easy it was to fake a political call or video. He created a doctored video of Barack Obama dropping an obscenity about Donald Trump to sound the alarm about fake news.

Originally published as It ain’t me! South Australian MP fed up with robocalls claiming to be her