I got 'spoofed' !

[Geauxtiger]

Over the weekend and thru today I have been getting calls from folks saying they were returning a missed call from me. I do not know these folks and they do not know me. The first few times it happened over the weekend I blamed it on AT&T technical issues. When I got several 'return calls' before lunch today, I went to the AT&T website and started a chat session. It is there that I was told I was likely the victim of spoofing. Not knowing what spoofing (as opposed to spamming) ,meant I did a quickie google search and learned that it is when a person hijacks your phone number so that when they make a call to a person, that person's caller ID shows MY phone number. A couple of folks who called me proceeded to tell me the story of how the person on the other end of the line, with a 'foreign accent', was calling to inform that the person's PC was not working correctly and was offering to fix it over the internet lines. Fortunately, both folks caught that it was a spam and stopped the conversation immediately. So the spoof leads to a spam.
AT&T informed me there was almost nothing that could be done. (Is that true or was the AT&T chat representative just trying to get rid of me?). The Chat person advised that I would likely need to have my cell number changed. Geeeeeshhh....I have had this number for years. It will be a SERIOUS pain to get it changed.
I also reported the issue to the FCC on their website. Got a nice auto reply email for my efforts saying essentially they do not look into individual cases, but use the data to spot trends and such. But, thanks for participating! We are from the gub'ment and we are here to help you!

Anyway, have any of you been 'spoofed'? Were you able to get it resolved without resorting to a ph number change? Any advice?

FYI....seems most of the return calls I was getting over the past few days have sounded like older folks. Spammer may be targeting the elderly? Also, ALL of the folks who called were extremely nice once I explained my predicament. The last caller engaged in conversation for 15 minutes....explaining to me this kind of stuff is about to drive her to open the 3 bottles of wine she has even though she doesn't drink and explaining that this spoofing is another reason she is voting for Trump. (was not about to ask how the two are connected!)

 

[abycat]

That has happened to me a couple times. I had to yell and swear at one guy to get him to shut up. hasn't happened again though.

 

[dmdx86]

The decentralized way the phone system works makes it incredibly easy to spoof numbers on caller ID. They are being honest in saying nothing can realistically be done from a technical standpoint.

The best you can do is find out what outfit is doing this and try to take legal action against them and/or their telephony provider. That's probably too much time and resources for what amounts to a minor nuisance that will pass (hopefully) soon.

 

[Ethan1]

Yes, there's really nothing they can do about it. Caller ID relies on "security by obscurity": most people don't know how the system works, so it'll fine. The phone system has always been extremely insecure, and there's no incentive for the phone companies to do anything about it. As evidenced by the FBI's extremely negative reaction to encryption, the government obviously wouldn't want the phone system to be secure either

 

[Geauxtiger]

Originally Posted By: dmdx86
The decentralized way the phone system works makes it incredibly easy to spoof numbers on caller ID. They are being honest in saying nothing can realistically be done from a technical standpoint.

The best you can do is find out what outfit is doing this and try to take legal action against them and/or their telephony provider. That's probably too much time and resources for what amounts to a minor nuisance that will pass (hopefully) soon.



Yeah, I have decided to suck it up and wait a couple of days to see if they move on to another number. This happened several months ago, but I only got a few of the return calls. Didn't know about spoofing then. It stopped after a couple of days.

 

[Geauxtiger]

FCC's response to my complaint:

Thank you for your submission. Your request has been received and assigned Ticket No. XXXXXXXX.

Your complaint provides valuable information to spot trends and practices that warrant investigation and enforcement action. We do not resolve individual complaints about this issue and, there will be no status information to report on your complaint.

If the FCC needs more information about your complaint, we will contact you directly.

Each year, the Enforcement Bureau takes hundreds of actions on behalf of consumers that result in tens of millions of dollars in penalties. These actions encourage companies and individuals to abide by the law and reduce future misconduct.

The information you provided us will continue to be available internally within the FCC to inform the Commission’s enforcement and policymaking processes.

Thank you for your help in furthering the FCC’s mission on behalf of consumers.

 

[69GTX]

About once a month, we get a spoofed phone call on our land line from "ourselves." It's sort of strange to see myself calling the house when I'm here...lol.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Originally Posted By: Ethan1
Yes, there's really nothing they can do about it. Caller ID relies on "security by obscurity": most people don't know how the system works, so it'll fine. The phone system has always been extremely insecure, and there's no incentive for the phone companies to do anything about it. As evidenced by the FBI's extremely negative reaction to encryption, the government obviously wouldn't want the phone system to be secure either

My local cinder block exchange building has a card scanner door lock on it , with security camera. ;D

We do know what telephone exchanges are, right guys? ;P

 

[gathermewool]

I've luckily only had it happen a couple of times. One guy was really upset and tried to convince me that I HAD called him. I went through my phone log and explained that I had not made a single phone call on this particular phone in DAYS. I explained to him that it was probably something like spoofing, though I didn't know the term for it then, but he wouldn't accept that. I ignored the next text he sent and he took the hint.

As far as I know, the chat person is correct. It's not them using your actual number, it just makes it look like it. It's apparently easy, too; my buddy used to call us from known numbers and prank us and I used to know how to do it. Whether it's still as easy to do, I don't know - this was half a decade ago, at least.

 

[dishdude]

I keep getting the same telemarketing phone call on my work cell, each time it is from a different number all over the country. I think they spoof fake numbers so you can't block them or Google their number.

 

[Geauxtiger]

Strangely, it is comforting to know that I have good BITOG company with this issue. No return calls in the past 5 hours....so maybe the scammers have moved on to a different number and I don't have to change my own number - this time.

 

[dlayman]

I wouldn't change my number. They'll likely move on. Anyway, there's no way you could be considered at fault for this. I never answer calls from numbers I don't know, so a few left voicemails from the spoofees wouldn't be a big deal to me. Verizon used to have a webpage that you could send a text message to anybody and enter whatever number you wanted as the number you were sending it from. That site is gone now. I had someone harassing me, using a different number every time. Verizon suggested changing my number, but I eventually figured out how to block it.

 

[Schmoe]

When I get a cell phone call, and I don't recognize the number, I just don't answer it. They can leave voice mail. Use to get a bunch of telemarketers and that other junk on my cell. Started doing that and within about 6 months, no more calls. I guess when they realize you aren't going to bite, they move on to the next.

 

[Whitewolf]

An article that I found.
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/one-ring-wireless-phone-scam

 

[DBMaster]

Every robocall I get uses a spoofed number. Most are inoperative numbers. What a pain this must be for people whose numbers are used. Robocalls are a bane of modern tech, as are spam emails.

I wouldn't change my number unless there were no other choice. Seems like a lot of numbers get dumped by people who owe money and you end up getting their debt collector calls. I just had a call this morning asking for the lady who had my cell number over seven years ago. I used to get a lot more of those calls but they slowed down after the first year. When I got a temporary landline in 2009 I started getting collection calls immediately. I asked for a new number and starting getting collection calls on that one immediately.

 

[javacontour]

I do work in switches from time to time. I'd like to think they are hard to get into. But I can imagine some social engineering could get you into one.

But you don't need to be in a CO to spoof caller id information.

Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Originally Posted By: Ethan1
Yes, there's really nothing they can do about it. Caller ID relies on "security by obscurity": most people don't know how the system works, so it'll fine. The phone system has always been extremely insecure, and there's no incentive for the phone companies to do anything about it. As evidenced by the FBI's extremely negative reaction to encryption, the government obviously wouldn't want the phone system to be secure either

My local cinder block exchange building has a card scanner door lock on it , with security camera. ;D

We do know what telephone exchanges are, right guys? ;P

 

[cjcride]

Got the same spoof calls for a while. Very annoying, almost changed the number but then it stopped. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[Doog]

I just hang up