Caller ID SCAM
Posted on June 30, 2014 by bob in NewsUCanUse
Caller ID allows you to identify a caller before you answer your telephone, displaying their number and/or name on your phone. It’s a convenient way to identify telemarketers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed a “Truth in Caller ID Act” which prohibits “…any person or entity from transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller ID information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.”
Penalties are up to $10,000 for each violation. There is an exemption for “…authorized activities by law enforcement agencies and situations where courts have authorized caller ID manipulation to occur.”
This FCC rule, and the penalties it can impose, has not deterred telemarketers from exploiting a technical opportunity to ‘hack’ your Caller ID.
Using a practice known as “caller ID spoofing,” callers can deliberately falsify the telephone number and/or name relayed as the Caller ID information to disguise the identity of the calling party. For example, identity thieves who want to collect sensitive information such as your bank account or other financial account numbers, your social security number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc., sometimes use caller ID spoofing so it appears they’re calling from your bank, credit card company, or a government agency.
Consumer Tips
— Don’t provide personal information in response to an incoming call. Identity thieves are clever – they often pose as representatives of banks, credit card companies, creditors, or government agencies to get people to reveal their account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother’s maiden names, passwords and other identifying information.
— If you get an inquiry from a company or government agency seeking personal information, don’t provide it. Hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company’s or government agency’s website to find out if the entity that supposedly called you actually needs the requested information.
— Inform the FCC know about ID spoofers by calling 1-888-CALL-FCC or filing a complaint at www.fcc.gov/complaints.
FCC Caller ID Rules for Telemarketers
— Even before passage of the Truth in Caller ID Act, FCC rules required telemarketers to pass accurate caller ID information. FCC rules specifically require that a telemarketer:
— Transmit or display its telephone number or the telephone number of the seller on whose behalf the telemarketer is calling, and, if possible, its name or the name and telephone number of the company for which it is selling products or services.
— Display a telephone number that you can call during regular business hours to ask to no longer be called. This rule applies even to companies that already have an established business relationship with you.
For violations of these rules, the FCC can seek a monetary fine. If the violator is not an FCC licensee, the FCC must first issue a warning and the telemarketer may be fined only for violations committed after the warning.
Taken from the FCC website, www.fcc.gov.
