Slashdot Mirror


Caller ID Falsification Service

Dan writes " A US website will offer Caller ID falsification service...Slated for launch this week, Star38.com would offer subscribers a simple Web interface to a Caller ID spoofing system that lets them appear to be calling from any number they choose. [...] SecurityFocus took the site for a test drive, and found it worked as advertised. The user fills out a simple Web form with his phone number, the number he wants to call, and the number he wants to appear to be calling from. Within two seconds, the system rings back, and patches the user through to the destination. The recipient sees only the spoofed number displayed on Caller ID. Any number works, from nonsense phone numbers like "123 4567" to the number for the White House switchboard."

41 of 639 comments (clear)

  1. Sooner or Later... by romper · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Mr. President, you have a call from the Pope."

    --
    Right is wrong when left is right.
    1. Re:Sooner or Later... by mrtroy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Haha....reminds me of family guy....

      [peter] Free Tibet? I will take it! (at a protest)

      *runs to a pay phone*

      [peter] Hello China? I think I have something you want...but its going to cost you

      [peter] Yes...ALL of the tea.

      --
      [I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
    2. Re:Sooner or Later... by MikeMacK · · Score: 5, Funny
      "Mr. President, you have a call from the Pope."

      "Well tell him I already talked to God..."

    3. Re:Sooner or Later... by bugnuts · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Oh, uh... do we have someone that can translate Vatican?"

    4. Re:Sooner or Later... by Penguin · · Score: 3, Funny

      The difference between the president and God is that God doesn't think he is the president.

      --
      - Peter Brodersen; professional nerd
    5. Re:Sooner or Later... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      By gosh you're right. The president does think he's the president.

    6. Re:Sooner or Later... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      The difference between George W. Bush and God is that one is fictional, and one should be.

    7. Re:Sooner or Later... by Lord+Kano · · Score: 2, Funny

      God has answered me a time or two. No problems here.

      God please, let the pregnancy test come back negative...

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  2. Slashdot Comment Author Falsification Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Have you ever wanted to post a comment as someone else, for humor or other more mischievous purposes? Now you can thanks to Slashdot's new comment author falsification service! You can be CmdrTaco, Hemos, CowboyNeal, or one of literally hundreds of thousands of other people, some of them actually famous!

    Author falsification starts at a mere 10,000 subscription points!

  3. Soviet Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, Caller ID Spoofs YOU! (FP)

  4. Courthouse by Nate+Fox · · Score: 4, Funny

    I knew a friend who worked in a courthouse, and she'd call me from the phone in there.

    The caller id was (999) 999-9999. Always thought that was kinda cool.

    1. Re:Courthouse by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Imposter! A female friend? Surely you can't be a slashdotter! You must be spoofing that user id.

    2. Re:Courthouse by paiute · · Score: 4, Funny

      The caller id was (999) 999-9999. Always thought that was kinda cool.

      So - just for variety - we now slashdot a land line.

      --
      If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
    3. Re:Courthouse by neomac · · Score: 2, Funny

      I tried and I got, "The number cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again."

      Definitely slashdotted..

  5. Excellent... by keiferb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone have Darl's phone number?

  6. Seems useless to me. by Sans_A_Cause · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unless they figure out who all my friends and family members are. I don't answer the phone if I don't recognize the number. My current phone number is one digit off from the local KFC, so I get a half-dozen calls every day that I don't answer.

    1. Re:Seems useless to me. by commodoresloat · · Score: 4, Funny
      Who the hell calls KFC? IIRC, they don't deliver or take orders over the phone. It's fast food, what are you going to ask them? Hey, you guys have any chicken today?

      Actually, you could have a lot of fun answering some of those calls and playing games with the callers. "I'm sorry, Sir, we're out of chicken today. No, our other stores are out of chicken too. In fact, we're under new ownership, and will feature an all vegetarian menu. Thank you for calling Kentucky Fried Tofu."

    2. Re:Seems useless to me. by HarvardAce · · Score: 2, Funny
      Oh I can definitely feel your pain!!!!! Mine used to be the number for a Male Adult Escorting Service. And is also often confused with a local Women's Clothing store in a different area code.

      Yes, I can feel the excruciating pain of having women who want to pay a man to provide them "company" accidentally call me instead...

      --
      Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
  7. Hampering communication.... by mercury83 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The more advanced and complex our communication systems get the more confusing and time-consuming and frustrating it becomes to communicate. It's odd how many people I know that will send emails to people, or chat online, but barely talk to people in person -- or at least with any real depth. The more "advanced" our communication, the more time we spend dealing with all the problems of communication that crop up (spam, caller id spoofing, junk mail, etc.)


    I know this whole group of people who are barely seen by other people and do nothing but communicate with random people from all over the world on a website.

    Oh wait... damn ... nevermind

  8. Re:Yummy by SoulPatch · · Score: 1, Funny

    Jenny loves anchovies... call anytime 867-5309

  9. Re:Dept colection? Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear god, BUY A DICTIONARY!!!

  10. Account Signup by RalphBinaca · · Score: 2, Funny

    Star38.com claims it will screen subscribers, and initially make the service available only to licensed private investigators and collection agencies.

    I'll pay someone $10 who has an account so I can call the service and sign up as Ralph's Collection Agency. (or do they know better than to rely on Caller-ID for indentifying new accounts?)

  11. Amazing, what's next by MobyDisk · · Score: 2, Funny

    People being able to spoof email addresses? Or fake the return address on an envelope? Or print fake IDs! Oh no, club owners beware, that young looking 46 year old might really be 13! And that official looking envelope may not really be from that swiss bank in Europe. And yes, hotgirl69@yourfavoriteISP.com might really be your wife!

  12. Won't work on me by dfn5 · · Score: 4, Funny
    My phone blocks all callerIDs that are not PGP signed.

    --
    -- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
  13. Testing, one two three by sysadmn · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is anyone else really, really tempted to call someone and have this service send the number you're calling? Especially if you've got a friend with the Voice Announce caller-id feature? "Five Five Five One Six Zero Zero" "Hmm, that number seems familar" "Get out of the house, he's in there with you!"

    --
    Envy my 5 digit Slashdot User ID!
  14. Or Perhaps... by gillbates · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should just change their names...

    It just so happens that I share a first name, last name, and middle initial with a convicted felon. Debt collectors and private investigators can't tell from a phone listing that I'm not the same person.

    At one point, my house would get several calls a week from debt collectors and private investigators. They would impersonate police officers, threaten legal action, etc...

    It became really annoying. Finally, itcame down to this:

    • I have a habit of answering the phone in a jovial manner, i.e., with phrases like, "Mort's morgue, you stab 'em, we slab 'em...." Generally speaking, I only get calls from close family, so everyone's in on the joke.
    • But one time, I decided to answer "Dominoes Pizza, how may I help you..."
    • And the reply was not whom I expected, but the voice of our least-favorite sheriff impersonator. Yes, it was the collection agency. But to my surprise, he played along:
    • "Dominoes pizza, eh... I'd like a large pepperoni pizza.."
    • Well, I continued to take his order, address, phone number and all. I thanked him and then hung up.
    • Turns out, he was across the state in a major city. Still not a problem, though. I looked up the phone number for the local Dominoes, and relayed his order.
    • Forty five minutes later, I got a call, "Very funny, wise guy..."
    • To which I replied, "Dominoes pizza, may I take your order?"
    That was the last time he called.
    --
    The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
  15. Any name I want, eh? by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So how many times can you fit "boobs" in the space of a caller ID name display?

    --
    stuff |
  16. Re:ICLID, ANI, name lookup, tephone cumpnies etc. by mwood · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sounds to me like this has both public-safety and national-security implications. Shut them down.

  17. Re:Fun for all ages and campaigns! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    telling someone else's creditors where to stick it ^H^H^H^H to not call anymore

    It's "^W" to delete a word, "^H" to delete a letter. You're saying "...creditors where to stick to not call anymore". Your /. posting privileges are hereby revoked.

    ... Posting A.C. for obvious reasons.

  18. Paging Jenny, you have a call on line 1... by timlee · · Score: 2, Funny

    867-5309

  19. Re:hidden methods by beanluc · · Score: 2, Funny

    A computer running Linux and Asterisk
    $500

    A T100P (Asterisk T1 card)
    $500

    A PRI to a telco that lets you specify Calling-Party-ID (you can get this pretty easily from a lot of CLECs)
    $500/month

    About 30 minutes of coding up a simple perl or PHP script to parse a web form and use the data to dump a call request file into Asterisk's outbound spool directory.
    Huh? What? Better contract this to Bangalore
    $500.00


    Callin' the boss from his daughter's cellphone to say "My pussy's on the Internet!!"
    PRICELESS!

    --
    Say it right: "Nuc-le-ah Powah".
  20. Re:Good God... by David+Horn · · Score: 2, Funny

    He finally got it cleared up, but now they send him a monthly bill for $0.00.

    Surely all he has to do is send them a cheque for $0.00?

    --
    PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
  21. I have fun at their expense by Sans_A_Cause · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who the hell does call KFC? I find it weird. Sometimes, before I had an obnoxious answering message, it would be along the lines of "I can't come in today". It was bizarre since, on my machine, I would clearly state my name and that I was out and would you please leave a message. Then, I'd get messages like "Uhh...I can't make it in today".

    So, I went with a stronger message. My last one (before my Mom asked me to take it off) was:

    Hello, and welcome to KFC's fat and disgusting line. If you're fat, press one. If you're disgusting, press 2. If you're fat and disgusting, press 3. If you'd like to know how our fried chicken can make you more fat and more disgusting, please press 4. If you realize this is not KFC and want to leave me a message, you can do that after the beep.

    You should hear some of the messages that got left. Mostly..."what the hell...?"

    My current one just promotes salad.

  22. Re:Social Engineering by Caseyscrib · · Score: 2, Funny
    In the case of departments, how many people must have tried to call the MS Word Development department to bitch about something in Word not working right?

    I know. I can't tell you how many times i've called those guys to get that damned paper clip off my screen. For whatever reason they think its a prank and hang up on me. I'll try again later this afternoon.

  23. Re:Fidel Castro has a PHONE? by svallarian · · Score: 1, Funny

    You mean him and dick cheney share a space?

    --
    I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
  24. we used to do that all the time by bmajik · · Score: 4, Funny

    except it was usually pizza hut answering the phone: "hello, pizza hut" only to be greeted by "uh, hello, this is papa johns"

    it was a real treat to listen to the two angry pizza guys, both of whom were insisting that THEIR phone was the one that rang, work out who was the bigger jerk

    3 way calling and the "mute" button is the best thing that happened to beeing a geeky teenager.

    --
    My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
  25. which brings to mind a question... by Rimbo · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Why is it that when we talk to God, we call it praying, but when God talks to us, we are schizophrenic?"

    --Lily Tomlin

  26. I have a more satisfying way to stop Telemarketers by Dont_Call_Me! · · Score: 2, Funny

    Caller ID is great for "ignoring" telemarketers, but I have hacked together an old PC and phone to make something I call the "Telecrapper". It uses the CallerID string to determine if the call is PhoneSpam. If it is it answers the call and plays a series of pre-recorded sound files. It uses silence detection to determine when the telemarketer is talking, so it carries on a virtual conversation with the dope on the other end. I haven't had one yet figure out that they're talking to a computer. These virtual conversations have all been recorded, and the best ones can be listened to at www.pagerealm.com/tc2k. They are all very funny to listen too. Just scroll down to the bottom to listen to the example WAV files.

  27. Setec Astronomy... by brakk · · Score: 2, Funny

    That always gets me in.

  28. Wrong Answer by Skjellifetti · · Score: 2, Funny
    But seriously, it doesn't matter whether it really "works" or it's just a placebo - if the machinery does what you want it to do, you don't need to look at the insides.

    One of the questions from the guy test:

    Alien beings from a highly advanced society visit the Earth, and you are the first human they encounter. As a token of intergalactic friendship, they present you with a small but incredibly sophisticated device that is capable of curing all disease, providing an infinite supply of clean energy, wiping out hunger and poverty, and permanently eliminating oppression and violence all over the entire Earth. You decide to:
    • a. Present it to the President of the United States.
    • b. Present it to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
    • c. Take it apart and see how it works.
    The only reason for not looking inside a black box is that there is some other more interesting black box next to it or maybe if your wife and kids are yelling at you to fix the plumbing disaster currently under way in the bathroom.
  29. Re:Telemarketer's dream by clambake · · Score: 2, Funny

    For example, I could now see my Mom's name and phone number every time a telemarketer calls me. Now both my caller ID and Anonymous caller ID blocking is circumvented. Now I am totally unable to avoid the torrent of calls from telemarketers that has plagued my phone number for years.

    Then it's time to start saying "yes". Yes I want your product, not just one, but 40,000 of them. I want to be a reseller. Keep them going as long as possible, get them all excited, and then gently lay the phone down next to the tv and go have dinner.