When caller ID gets spoofed

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

(3/20/07) -- When our phone rings, many of us rely on Caller ID to tell us who's on the other end of the line. But there is an easy way for just about anyone to fool you into thinking they're someone else.

It is called Caller ID Spoofing. It used to require a lot of technical savvy and hard-to-get equipment, but times have changed. Now just about anyone can call you and remain anonymous or pretend to be someone else.

Juanita Felton does not like getting phone calls from strangers, telemarketers or someone looking for money. So she relies on Caller ID.

"I'll pick it up and look at it - 'nah, don't want to talk to them,'" she said.

So imagine her surprise when her Caller ID showed Odessa Jones, Juanita's aunt, was calling, but when she answered, the person on the other line was one of our Action News producers.

Heather changed her voice as well as the phone number and name that appeared on Juanita's Caller ID through a spoofing service called Spoofcard.

Just dial Spoofcard's toll-free number and enter a pin number, the caller i-d you want to appear and the number you'd like to reach. The call then goes through instantly. Telespoof offers a similar service. Both companies charge about $10 for 60 minutes of talk time.

"If it would fall into the wrong hands, it certainly could be another case where someone can take advantage of the trust PECO has established with its customers," said Cathy Engel of PECO.

PECO is concerned criminals could manipulate their identities to set up bogus appointments and get unsuspecting victims to open their doors. To prevent that from happening, PECO has this advice:

"If it's PECO calling you, we would be able to provide your name, your address, your account number and your current balance," said Engel

Spoofcard and Telespoof say their target markets consist of private investigators, law enforcement, insurance agencies and lawyers, but Action News had no trouble getting access and security experts worry neither would anyone else.

There have been several high-profile cases of Caller ID spoofing. For instance, many constituents of Pennsylvania Congressman Tim Murphy got phone messages that bad-mouthed the legislator. The Caller ID made it appear the calls were coming from the Congressman'soffice.

Someone used Caller ID spoofing to call Paris Hilton and pose as someone from her cell phone carrier to get the password to her voicemail.

So beware the next time you get a call, as Juanita Felton now knows, the person on the other end of the line could be just about anyone.

It is illegal for telemarketers to spoof Caller ID and pretend to be someone else, but it is not illegal for most other individuals or businesses, although a number of legislators have proposed bills to change that.

Here's another tip courtesy of the Florida Public Service Commission:

DON'T BE FOOLED. If you receive a call asking for confidential information such as your Social Security number, credit card or bank account number, or personal identification number (PIN) from ANY company that you do business with, hang up and call back using their published phone number.

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