Some of you may have started seeing this in the news recently; it isn’t a new thing it just finally is starting to get publicity about the problem.

Caller ID spoofing is when someone uses either hardware or software to “fake” the caller ID on your phone to show whatever name and number they want it to show. We have become accustomed over the years to rely on caller ID to tell us who is on the line, but now you can’t trust this anymore.

If you do a Google search for “caller ID Spoofing” you’ll find many websites that now offer this service to people. Some of the more reputable companies limit the use to law enforcement, private investigators and collection agencies.

The problem is this, a telemarketer could use caller ID spoofing to trick yo into picking up the phone or someone could try to use it to gain access to your personal information in order to steal your identity or call from say the census bureau to call and find out who lives in the home (to try and find a female that lives alone in order to attack her in her home). The list of bad things that this can be used for is large.

Here are some ways to protect yourself: IF you do NOT initiate the call then you do not trust they are who they say they are; ask them to give you a callback number and then hang up and call them to be sure. Also unless you call them, never give anyone personal information about yourself or your living situation.

No legitimate company will call or email you out of the blue to get you to give them all of your personal information again, they have it already. This goes for passwords as well.

A person used Caller ID spoofing to trick Paris Hilton into giving up her password for her voice mail by saying he was a tech for that company. Ok, she isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but you can see how if your caller ID says it is your local utility company you can drop your guard and get nailed in the process.

Never give out personal info to anyone that calls you no matter who they say they are or who caller Id says they are. Never give passwords or password hints to anyone who calls or emails you.

Use your head, your personal information is an asset you need to protect just like you would your home or money. You have the right to refuse to give personal information to anyone by email or phone and any legitimate company will have no issues with this.

Be safe!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 11:06 am and is filed under Crime, Home Security, Women's Safety | . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.