Caller ID Spoofing Firm Gets Death Threats

Frankie70 writes "Three days after the startup company Star38 began offering a service that fools Caller ID systems, the founder, Jason Jepson, has decided to sell the business. Jepson said he had received harassing e-mail and phone messages and even a death threat taped to his front door -- all of which he said came from people opposed to his publicizing a commercial version of technology that until now has been mainly used by software programmers and the computer hackers' underground. Details in the Houston Chronicle. Earlier ZDnet article about the service."

Comments

Collection agencies are scum

[Gannoc]

I've never been the target of one myself, but I used to always wonder why bankruptcy lawyer commercials always said stuff like "Stop creditor harassment."

I always thought, "Well honestly, if you're not going to pay your bills, then you should expect people to ask you for the money."

Nope. Its harassment. Its actually frightening stuff. I first started learning about this when I received an odd message on my answering machine. It was from someone from "Kansas City" who said that she was despirately trying to get in contact with my neighbor, and that she had called the police and they had said I was a neighbor, and could I PLEASE tape a note to their door giving them her number."

Well, it sounded fishy, so I called the number myself late at night after hours. The answering message didn't say where I had called, but I waited and found it was a collection agency.

Basically, they lied to ME, a 3rd party, to try and get me to do their fucking job for them, and probably ruin my relationship with my neighbors in the process. They clearly didn't call the police about an emergency like they implied. I'm glad I checked up with them, i'm sure my other neighbors got similar messages.

These people do everything short of theatening to break your fingers. They'll say "We're going to call your boss and tell them you're not paying your bills. I'm going to try and get you fired." They threaten to tell your neighbors, to tell your children's school, etc. They'll call you 5-7 times a night demanding that you immediately send them the money.

There have been many stories of people who sent them a part of their bill, and then the collection agencies illegally used their checking account number to withdraw the whole amount, causing a chain reaction of them now being late on ALL of their bills, instead of the one they just couldn't pay.

So its no surprise that collection agencies would use something like this to fool people.
Yes, some people are deadbeats, but there are a lot of people who have lost their jobs and need to choose between food and their gas bill.

Re:Good ridance

[grolaw]

Yea. Sure. It's cool that it's out there.

You properly use the contraction "it's" and you use it twice in the same sentance. This is a record on /..

However, the PIs that I use don't need to spoof phone numbers and anybody who spoofs the name of a major company is diluting a trademark and is also violating the Lantham Act.

Why a person with your command of the language would miss the obvious is beyond my comprehension. BUT, it is the high point of reading /..

Re:who stands to benefit?

[AndroidCat]

Caller id has never been foolproof. It depends on the originating switch to be truthful. As soon as companies got their own digital switches, spoofing was possible. Now that capability is now moving down to the level of individuals.

Re:Easy to trace

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe in your world, "the police should be involved and trace the originators." In the real world, they don't give a shit and are overworked with more substantial crimes. My local police department won't do shit about harassing phone calls, even those threatening to kidnap children, etc. (southern United States)

Re:It should be all or none

[Plugh]

Either anyone should be allowed to spoof their ID, in which case caller ID becomes worthless, or nobody should be allowed to do it.

Allowed??! Allowed?!?!?

Have you learned nothing about the nature of technology from the perverse antics of the RIAA?

You can make an algorithm "illegal", but you damn well can't stop it from being used. In my (not even remotely Humble) opinion, that's why, utlimately, the only realistic political stance is a Libertarian one.

Re:It isn't as though he developed the technique.

[Anonymous Coward]

At least now we know not to trust caller ID.

He was getting death threats because the high IQ doofuses saw their gravy train ride out of town. This guy will be the cause for the truth about caller ID getting heavily publicized, and eventually fixed.

Re:Caller ID should be secure

[SIPVoIP]

Most switches will accept caller ID digits, and pass them, however names are normally from CNAM via line information database base (LIDB). If you are the CLEC of record you can update LIDB to be whatever you want. CNAM filed is 15 char long and only (A-Z) and ",".

collection agencies break the law all the time

[bani]

you really think 'the law' is a deterrent?

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1996/02/allied.htm
http: //www.ftc.gov/opa/1995/08/grlakes.htm
http://www. ftc.gov/opa/2002/07/dccredserv.htm
http://www.con sumeraffairs.com/news04/nco.html
http://www.ftc.g ov/opa/2000/08/performance.htm
http://www.usdoj.g ov/usao/az/azpress/2004/2004-058 .pdf
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnis t/lamb /0009.htm

debt collection is a highly corrupt business and its very nature demands employees who have low ethical and moral standards.

Re:It should be all or none

[adolf]

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce the real reason why this is all possible in the first place:

Meaningful Caller ID for DID PBX systems.[1]

[1]: You might have a Direct Inward Dial number assigned to your extension at work, right now. Or at least, you know someone who does (the whole "let me give you my direct number..." bit.)

The way they work is thus:

Joe Random calls your DID number (666-666-6666). The telco switch sees that it's supposed to route calls to that number across Acme Electioneering's PRI line, so it finds an available B channel on that PRI and does just that. At the same time, it sends to Acme's PBX the number that Joe dialed to get where he's going. Mr. PBX is then able to route the call directly to your desk.

Now, to call out, here's what happens. You pick up your DID-equipped phone at Acme Electioneering and dial Joe Random. Since your phone guy is on the ball and complied with your request to make Caller ID actually work, Mr. PBX finds an available B channel on the PRI, and tells the telco that You@666-666-6666 is making a call to Joe Random.

Joe's phone rings, and is sent You@666-666-6666.

If Betty, whose DID at Acme is 6667, decides to call Mr. Random, Joe sees Betty@666-666-6667 on his CID, even though the call came through the same PRI.

All of this is of course optional, and many PBXs are configured to always supply the main system number instead of DIDs as a business decision.

But that's not always a good idea. Think large leased office complex, multiple tenants, shared phone system and infrastructure. Or Vonage and friends, for that matter. You -do- want Caller ID to work on your new Vonage VOIP kit, don't you? [2]

To eliminate this functionality altogether would cause huge headaches, cost thousands of businesses a small fortune in hardware and new circuits (which may or may not even be available in the neighborhood), and vastly decrease the efficiency of how the phone system as a whole actually fucking works.

[2]: For a technical crowd, you people sure are thick sometimes.

Re:Good ridance

[Lord Kano]

I don't know what fantasy you live in, but the last time I checked, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol is outgunned when faced with fully automatic and assault type weapons loaded with armor piercing ammunition. These weapons are COMMON among the criminal element.

Police departments in every major city in this country have fully automatic firearms, snipers and armor piercing ammunition. Sure, an individual cop can be outgunned, but "the police" are not.

Think back 3 years ago to a bank robbery in California when 2 gunmen were able to hold off over 40 LAPD officers for almost an hour due to superior firepower and body-armour.

You're talking about the North Hollywood Shootout which, by the way, was over seven and a half years ago.

None of the cops were killed, and both of the suspects were. That speaks volumes about who was outgunned.

We are supposed to take YOUR WORD for the fact that they are not outgunned. I, however, have given SOLID and REAL evidence that they are. Your stating that they are not outgunned is anecdotal at best, and a complete fabrication of your imagination at worst.

You seem to have little to no understanding of what "anecdotal" means. One story does not constitute solid or real evidence. Even the story that you brought up supports my argument.

LK