Caller ID Rife with Scams

Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:50AM EDT

See Comments (5)

Why am I paying $6.95 a month for Caller ID again? 80 percent of the time I get "Out of Area" or "Unknown Caller" or "Blocked." The other 20 percent of the time it's someone I know.

Anyway, pending legislation is about to make a weak technology a little bit stronger, as "identity spoofing" is set to be outlawed. Called the "Truth in Caller ID Act of 2006" (and God help us that we needed an act like this), the law (which is receiving broad support) will outlaw scammers from using fake Caller ID information.

You may not even realize you've been scammed. It's almost simple today to create a phony Caller ID record to make calls. The upshot is that people have been being bilked out of their private information (like credit card numbers or Social Security numbers) because the recipient's Caller ID box said the call was coming from the company and phone number the caller claimed to be. According to this story in USA Today, a common scam involves a call claiming that you missed jury duty, followed by an SSN request.

If and when the legislation passes, you probably still shouldn't trust Caller ID too much. As always, never give out a credit card number or your SSN over the phone unless you initiated the call and you are absolutely certain who you're dealing with on the other end of the line.

Comments on Caller ID Rife with Scams

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  • 1 Posted by metro92242 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    this is somthing i didn't know tho we don't have this service here in earp yet. thanks

  • 2 Posted by shadowfax4269 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:15PM EDT Report Abuse

    It will be nice but I don't really think it will help much. It's annoying enough that everyone you know usually has their phone number blocked from being displayed to begin with. Which kinda makes caller-id pointless from the start. I also believe that short of being some sort of law enforcement agency businesses should not be allowed to block their id's. With more people having only cell phones, you get very aggrevated with recieving junk calls and what not. For instance for over a month I recieved about 8-10 calls a day on my cell phone while at work for some company that was actually dialing a wrong number. Unfortunately for me most of these people don't leave message so you have no idea who calling you. Personally I don't think anyone should be able to block their phone id...but that is just me.

  • 3 Posted by abhimmedia on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:44PM EDT Report Abuse

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  • 4 Posted by cat9rescue on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    $6.95? Wow I am paying $9.95 a month and, as has been said here, most calls are blocked or come up unknown caller. I have recently added call blocker but have no idea how to stop the calls with no number sooooo I do not answer blocked calls. Police should be aware of this as their numbers are always blocked. My phone, I pay the bill, my perogative to answer or not. PJH

  • 5 Posted by tetech@pacbell.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    How are these laws enforced? Can we trace these fakers? One crank is faking his caller ID as my 800# (when I call out, it shows my regular toll phone number rather than any of my toll-free numbers). The victims are calling ME.

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