Don't Always Trust Your Caller ID

Fraudulent telemarketers and scam artists are always looking for new ways to get people to answer their calls. Most phones have the ability to screen calls, providing information about the caller when the phone rings. But an increasingly common technique scam artists have been using is to falsify or “spoof” their caller ID information.

Phone number spoofing causes the caller ID to display a phone number or other information to make it look like the calls are from a different person or business, hoping to entice the recipient to answer a call they would otherwise decline. Spoofing is usually done with malicious or unscrupulous motivations by the caller and it has led many people to believe that you can no longer trust caller ID.

How Spoofing Works

Spoofing works by faking caller ID information that might trick you into answering a call. For example, you might receive a call on your smartphone with the same area code as your phone, causing you to believe it’s a local business you frequent.

Scam artists often research the phone numbers of local companies such as financial institutions and spoof their information, lulling recipients into a false sense of security causing them to divulge personal information that they might not otherwise reveal.

How to Recognize Phone Number Spoofing

One of the best ways to protect yourself is by learning to recognize scams that use spoofing so you can avoid picking up or engaging with spoofed calls. Here are some tips to help:

·         Be Skeptical. Be skeptical of text messages or callers that address you with generic greetings instead of using your real name. Don’t assume that callers are who they say they are. If you get a call from someone claiming to represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call back the phone number on the company’s website to verify the caller.

·         Password Protect Your Voicemail. Set a password for your voicemail account. Scammers can hack into your voicemail by spoofing your phone number unless it is properly secured with a password.

·         Avoid Unknown Numbers. Avoid answering unknown numbers, even if they are from local area codes. Check your voicemail often to avoid missing important calls.

·         Don’t Hit Any Buttons, or Click any Links. If the caller asks you to press any buttons, hang up immediately. If it’s a text message, don’t click any links or respond to the text.

·         Don’t Fall For It. Pay attention to the caller’s tone of voice and don’t give out any information to callers who seem pushy or demanding. A popular tactic with scammers is to try to make a matter appear urgent so recipients will be more inclined to react and give out information. Don’t answer any questions, especially regarding your personal information. Scammers are known to ask for information such as your Social Security Number, mother’s maiden name, passwords, or credit card numbers. Never share this information with any caller, or other confidential information like multi-factor authentication codes, card security codes (CVV), or even customer center phone numbers from the back of your credit cards.

·         Don’t Stay on the Line. Trust your gut. If you have any suspicions about the caller, hang up immediately. The longer you stay on the line with them, the more likely they are to get information out of you.

What you can do

Use call blocking to stop unwanted calls. Filtering or blocking a number is different for iOS users and Android users, but both essentially involve going into your settings on your phone, and then selecting some sort of “block contact” option. There are also a number of other security and spam apps available that can help block unwanted or unknown callers.

Avoid being spoofed:

• Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers.

• If you answer and it’s not who you expected, don’t hang on, hang up.

• If a caller asks you to hit a button to stop getting calls, just hang up.

• Never assume an unexpected call is legitimate. Hang up and call back using a number you can verify on a bill, a statement or an official website.

• Be suspicious. Con artists can be very convincing. They make innocuous questions, sound threatening, or imply consequences for not complying immediately. They can also make offers that seem too good to be true.

• Don’t give out personal information - account numbers, Social Security numbers or passwords, security codes, or answer security questions.

• Use extreme caution if you are being pressured for immediate payment.

• Ask your phone company about call blocking tools for landlines or apps for mobile devices.

Source: ftc.gov, staysafeonline.org