| Caller ID Spoofing is the practice of masking your | | | | spoofed Caller ID to curb unethical practices and |
| phone number when calling someone with a Caller ID | | | | dangerous situations caused by prank calls or |
| service on their phone line. It is the process of | | | | threatening calls. The bill never made it to the floor for |
| displaying a spurious phone number for the purpose of | | | | a vote. Law enforcement would have been exempt. |
| deceiving the receiver of the call. It is a malicious term | | | | There are many legitimate uses of the service as |
| and the process throws the value of Caller ID as a | | | | businesses have used it when making calls when out |
| paid service in question. If I could not be sure which | | | | of the office so that their business name and number |
| calls were accurately read by Caller ID and how many | | | | show when reaching clients or other business |
| had been spoofed, I would not want to pay the $12.95 | | | | contacts. Commercial phone forwarding services will |
| the land line companies routinely charge for Caller ID | | | | show the originating Caller ID information so that the |
| on your home phone. | | | | recipient knows where the call is originating from. Many |
| How the service works is that you pay the Spoofing | | | | calling card companies display the name of the calling |
| service a price for a personal identification number that | | | | card user to recipient Caller IDs. Caller ID Spoofing has |
| lets you into their site and make a call for a prescribed | | | | been around since Caller ID was invented. Businesses |
| length of time. The customer dials into the system and | | | | that had ISDN PRI lines wanted their main number to |
| enters the PIN that he purchased. Then the customer | | | | show when making outbound calls. Since the PRI lines |
| enters the number he wants to show up on the | | | | could have up to twenty three unique lines, there |
| recipient's Caller ID. Once entered into the system, the | | | | needed to be a way for the main number to display |
| call is placed and the chosen number shows up on the | | | | on Caller ID. This method was the first Caller ID |
| recipient's phone and the chances of them picking up | | | | Spoofing. |
| have greatly increased. If you are planning on doing this | | | | Services for individuals to spoof Caller ID were first |
| on a regular basis, many providers give you what | | | | introduced in 2005. Up until then the service had been |
| amounts to a calling card for you to dial into the | | | | available for law enforcement and private |
| system from anywhere. | | | | investigators. There are now sites that will allow you to |
| Some collection agencies have gone to this service to | | | | alter your voice when making a spoofed Caller ID call. |
| reach more accounts that would not normally answer | | | | It seems like a great deal of work to keep your identity |
| the phone. I think this is a rather deceptive practice and | | | | secret. I guess if you just want to prank someone then |
| should be legislated against. I understand that the | | | | it would be a good service to use. |
| Senate attempted to pass a bill outlawing the use of | | | | |