3 ms·

It wasn't too much of a problem, but it has escalated quickly in the last couple of years, especially with people figuring out how to change or spoof CNAM data,

It wasn't too much of a problem, but it has escalated quickly in the last couple of years, especially with people figuring out how to change or spoof CNAM data, which is what shows up on caller ID. For a while, they'd use numbers only a couple of digits off from yours, or have a set pattern (like add 4 to each of your last 3 digits). Now people don't answer local calls, so they've moved on to neighboring area codes. I assume that some sort of software has hit the market automating the process, but I don't know.

Semaphor 7y ago
So it’s purely the spoofing? I looked at Wikipedia, and we have "CLIP" (Calling Line Identification Presentation) and "CLIP no screening" (essentially spoofed numbers). Spoofing a number that you don’t own the rights for is a crime. So it looks like we have spoofing but only in a sane way, is the other kind of spoofing legal in the US? Or is there some other underlying problem?
- beerandt 7y ago
  No, there's an increase in not-spoofed (afaik) calls too. Plus some of the callers have figured out different tricks, like multiple brief calls to bypass do-not-disturb settings, or as an attempt to get the person to call back the caller ID number. For me, at least, the calls also seem to be highly clustered, whether spoofed or not, for whatever reason. As far as I know, spoofing is left to phone company policy, which says it needs to be an associated number, like the same company or same address. I think part of the problem is they don't have a way to actually verify this for out of system calls. And technology has made setting up spam lines on small remote systems feasable. This is speculation, but I suspect it would be considered criminal fraud if it's done as part of a bigger crime. I don't think it's a crime in-and-of itself, but other than that, idk.

3 ms·

It wasn't too much of a problem, but it has escalated quickly in the last couple of years, especially with people figuring out how to change or spoof CNAM data,

by beerandt 7y ago

Semaphor 7y ago
So it’s purely the spoofing? I looked at Wikipedia, and we have "CLIP" (Calling Line Identification Presentation) and "CLIP no screening" (essentially spoofed numbers). Spoofing a number that you don’t own the rights for is a crime. So it looks like we have spoofing but only in a sane way, is the other kind of spoofing legal in the US? Or is there some other underlying problem?
- beerandt 7y ago
  No, there's an increase in not-spoofed (afaik) calls too. Plus some of the callers have figured out different tricks, like multiple brief calls to bypass do-not-disturb settings, or as an attempt to get the person to call back the caller ID number. For me, at least, the calls also seem to be highly clustered, whether spoofed or not, for whatever reason. As far as I know, spoofing is left to phone company policy, which says it needs to be an associated number, like the same company or same address. I think part of the problem is they don't have a way to actually verify this for out of system calls. And technology has made setting up spam lines on small remote systems feasable. This is speculation, but I suspect it would be considered criminal fraud if it's done as part of a bigger crime. I don't think it's a crime in-and-of itself, but other than that, idk.