Think Cash - Personal Finance and Money Saving Discussions

Money Scam Awareness => Telephone Scams => Topic started by: ThinkCash on March 06, 2014, 10:02:27 AM

Title: Caller ID Phone Scam - Allows Criminals to Fake The Call ID - Number Spoofing
Post by: ThinkCash on March 06, 2014, 10:02:27 AM
Disturbing story here from the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/10677764/Caller-ID-shows-your-banks-number-but-its-actually-a-fraudster.html) concerning telephone number spoofing

Quote
Fraudsters are targeting bank customers with a new scam using fake caller ID numbers.

The conmen call the customer and pretend to be a representative from their bank or credit card company.

They convince customers the call is from their bank because the caller ID matches a legitimate bank number, often the one printed on the back of a bank card.

The scammers then persuade the customer to hand over sensitive personal and financial information.


Disturbingly, these are freely available on the various app stores meaning it's pretty simple for anyone to do with a determined will. Sold as "fun apps" these allow you to simply change the number that the receiving callers see.


You'd think that phone companies might err on the side of caution and disallow the ability of people to do this but there's no sign yet, in fact it's completely legal according to these guys (http://consumerist.com/2013/06/21/its-completely-legal-to-spoof-phone-numbers/) .


The American FCC states (http://www.fcc.gov/guides/caller-id-and-spoofing) that it's illegal to use such things to defraud people! Which is kind of amusing in that the last I heard it was illegal to defraud people anyway, so I'm not sure what a regulation saying it is does to help really, but then IANAL :)


At the end of the piece, It's good sense to take steps to ensure that you aren't caught out by these people.


How?


There's a good list of websites here that can help too. Spend five minutes checking them out, you might just save you or someone you love from financial loss.

About Identity Theft (http://www.aboutidentitytheft.co.uk/) (A public interest website on identity theft)
Bank Safe Online (http://www.banksafeonline.org.uk/phishing_examples.html)(contains a whole range of information and materials concerning keeping your finances safe online)
Get Safe Online (https://www.getsafeonline.org/)
Card Watch (http://www.cardwatch.org.uk/) 
Insurance Fraud Bureau - Cheatline (https://www.insurancefraudbureau.org/report/)(if you know anyone involved in committing insurance fraud)
Land Registry Public Guide 17 - How to safeguard against property fraud (http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-17)
Operation Archway (http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Departments/ECD/Fraud/boilerroom.htm)(City of London Police operation specifically targeting Boiler Room Scams)
www.identitytheft.org.uk (http://www.identitytheft.org.uk/)Identity Theft Prevention Advice for individuals
www.millersmiles.co.uk (http://www.millersmiles.co.uk/)(a web directory of phishing scams and emails that have been sent historically and recently)