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Caller ID Spoofing Becomes Easy

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the clue-phone-ringing dept.

objekt writes "According to an article in USA Today, Caller ID spoofing has become much easier in the last few years. Millions of people have Internet telephone equipment that can be set to make any number appear on a Caller ID system. And several websites have sprung up to provide Caller ID spoofing services, eliminating the need for any special hardware. For instance, Spoofcard.com sells a virtual 'calling card' for $10 that provides 60 minutes of talk time. The user dials a toll-free number, then keys in the destination number and the Caller ID number to display. The service also provides optional voice scrambling, to make the caller sound like someone of the opposite sex."

10 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Dupe spoofing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Caller ID Falsification Service

  2. Caller ID for Caller ID blocking for Caller ID by spyrochaete · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What really annoys me is that you can subscribe to caller ID and some numbers still appear as "withheld". It's no surprise that you can pay more to upgrade your caller ID to see those numbers. In Canada anyway. False advertising much?

    BTW there was an issue of 2600 with a great CID\ANI spoofing article. I think it was winter 2004.

    1. Re:Caller ID for Caller ID blocking for Caller ID by Cidtek · · Score: 2, Interesting
      "What really annoys me is that you can subscribe to caller ID and some numbers still appear as "withheld". It's no surprise that you can pay more to upgrade your caller ID to see those numbers. In Canada anyway."

      As a Canadian who write telephony software for a living I can assure you that it is not true.

  3. Not really... by 222 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anyone that manages a VoIP setup can fool simple caller ID, I'll be impressed with something that can fool ANI.

    More information about CLI @ http://www.ainslie.org.uk/callerid/cli_faq.htm

  4. Re:Whatsa matter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    During a pen-test to social engineer a user into changing her proxy setting to a server that we "owned". While caller ID spoofing might not fool you, the "masses" actually do use it as a forum of "authenication". For example, we called as a major telco representive claiming that we had reports of "slow Internet traffic" from there site. The caller ID spoofing was enough to fool the employ to do pretty much anything we asked.

    Many, many people believe spoofing is a valid forum of "making sure".

  5. CNBC is running a story on this by cyberguyd · · Score: 2, Interesting

    CNBC's "On the Money" is reporting on this right now. A Colorado congressman will be introducing a bill to make this illegal. Hopefull it do so. I canned my landline a year ago and I get no BS calls on my cell phone. My life has become more peaceful and this does not affect me right now. This may change, I am sure as more people do this. Hwever, for the time being I am ok.

    Incidently, "On the Money" broke the story about the cell phone records for sale on the net. They did not drop the story until Congress took action. Kudos to them. Hopefully they do this on this topic as well.

  6. Spoof away - I still screen my calls, do you? by inertialmatrix · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is it just me, or do others also prefer to not answer the phone and opt instead to have the answering machine pick up in order to screen calls? I became so sick of getting multiple telemarketing calls between the hours of 5-10pm that I decided to just turn the ringer on its lowest volume setting, and let the machine answer.

    I know it may seem a bit obnoxious, but I am the one paying the bill and it would seem to me that the phone is for my convience, not someone elses.

    1. Re:Spoof away - I still screen my calls, do you? by deacon · · Score: 2, Interesting
      The new scam now is people calling doing "surveys".

      These are immune from calling list rules. In any case, I am amazed you spent 6 months of agro to solve a problem you could have solved for $100 with this:

      http://www.privacycorps.com/products/?id=20

      What's it worth not to have to go over and look at the caller ID, or getting a call in the middle of the night and having it be a farking fax machine?

      This device lets you program an action for each phone number. Perhaps the coolest thing is that you can program a number to not ring the phone AND also not go to the answering machine.. it just rings (silently) forever.. useful for those people who you don't want to hear from for any reason.

      And yes, there is a 2 digit code a caller can punch in to make the device ring when they call from a non-included phone #.

      Sorry this sounds like an ad, but considering the mac mini people are always writing ads masquerading as content, what the hell.

  7. OLD NEWS by cuebei · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Dude, this has been available for years. Any ISDN PRI has this ability built in. In fact, most phone systems on the market include the ability to modify the calling partys number on a per extention basis, if connected to an ISDN PRI. The best part, is that you only have to spoof the number. If the receiver subscribes to callerid with name lookup, it will automatically lookup the name for the number I put in.

  8. Re:Whatsa matter? by JRock911 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Junk faxing, for one thing. I get junk faxes CONSTANTLY and you can never, EVER trace the numbers back to a real number.

    Basically it allows the unscrupulous telemarketers an out.. they can't be traced! The fax doesnt have anyone's name on it, the company who their promoting "claims" to never have heard of them... all the while they're getting paid.