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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:02 am Subject: CA's Spoofing Phone Numbers?

I think this has been talked about before; however, I can't recall what was said regarding it.

If a CA calls and the number in the CID shows up as spoofed (IE intentionally made up to mislead) isn't that illegal?

I'm cat/dog sitting for my Mother and she received a call the other day that showed up as "Twin Cities, MN - 952-996-0000." I thought it might have been one of the CA's that had called her before, looking for me, even though my number is still the same and still active.

So I tried calling the number back and got a recorded message advising it was no longer in service or had been disconnected. Now how in the heck could she be getting calls from a phone that is not in service?!?

So, I Google'd the number and it came up as "Pinnacle Financial" and I found other stories from people advising the same; they tried to call the number back and got the "disconnected" message. One post did provide an actual 800-number for Pinnacle though, which I called.

Of course the woman that answered wouldn't tell me what company she was with when I asked. I advised her I had Google'd them and found out they were with Pinnacle Financial and why were they calling my mother. She then advised me the name of the woman they were trying to reach; she was no relation and I didn't recognize the name.

Funny thing I didn't even have to give her my Mother's phone number, as that was where I was calling from it must have pulled up in her system the minute she answered the call.

I then proceeded to ask her to make sure my mother does not get any more calls from them, which she promised she would. I asked her for her name as I didn't want to have this same conversation in a month with another rep after she made a promise to me.

That's when she started getting bee-yothcy!

So, I go into attack mode asking why her company feels the need to spoof their number in the CID when they call someone, not leaving a message, and making someone have to play "Dick Tracy" trying to figure out who called. I asked her isn't it illegal to spoof a number like that? Shouldn't their correct number be showing up in the CID if they were a legitimate company conducting legitimate business?

She must have heard this before as she started telling me to sue them if they are breaking the law. So, I'm guessing they know what they're doing and this question has been raised with them before? I told her if they called my mother again, then I would definitely be looking into that option, advised her to have a nice day, and that I was ending the call.

What fun!!

So, has anyone run across this before and is it actually legal for a CA to spoof the CID number like that?

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:28 am Subject:

Caller ID spoofing is prohibited by the FCC for Telemarketers but I think could be applied to CA's since it is a deceptive trade practice. Unfortunately it's not a crime....YET. File a complaint with the FCC. The worst they can do is not investigate but if they get enough......

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/callerid.html