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Caller ID Proofing
Caller identity changing allows a caller to input or
choose the number that they wish to appear to be calling from. So for
example, if someone were doing a good impersonation of the U.S. President
and had the phone number for the White House, one could input that phone
number into their caller ID spoofing product and appear to be calling from
the White House. That is, the prankster's unsuspecting victim will see the
identifying number on her telephone caller ID, and it will be the U.S.
White House identifier.
Caller ID spoofing originally developed for businesses wishing to appear
to be local when in fact they were not. This is because customers tend to
be more comfortable with local or regional folks than customer courtesy
calls from, for example, Malaysia or India.
What has happened unfortunately is that harassers, stalkers, scammers, and
fraudsters use it for their bidding as well. This might be as simple as
putting in a fake number to annoy someone without being found out, all the
way to being something to aid in illegal activity like identity fraud and
theft. For example, a fraudster get their hands on a customer list from
a-- say Charles Schwab representative, they can call with mock Schwab
identifier, assume the identity of the Schwab representative, and scam
even more information out of customers.
The good news is that Congress is currently working on a law that would
make it illegal to modify caller ID information with the intent to
"defraud or harass another person, or to use another person's caller ID
information without consent."
So basically, this law will not take caller ID changing technology off the
market, but it will create criminal consequences for people who misuse the
technology. The law would not make all "joke" or "prank" calls illegal,
only those that include the caller assuming someone else's phone number.
To learn more about the Act that makes masking your caller ID illegal,
check out the
Preventing Harassment Through Outbound Number Enforcement Act
(H.R. 740). Also, there is another bill that is very similar to H.R. 740
called the
Truth
in Caller ID Act (H.R. 251). Remember these aren't laws yet,
they're just bills.
Run reverse phone search now
Example 555-555-555
- Find out the source of a harassing ("prank") caller
- Investigate a "suspicious" number that you found on your boyfriend/girlfriend's phone
- Research a number that appeared on your phone bill
- Locate an old friend from high school or college
- Research "missed calls" on your caller ID that you don't recognize
- Lookup someone's exact address
- And more..