Caller ID Spoofing

It is possible that you have been informed about individuals reporting missed calls with your phone number appearing as the caller ID. Unfortunately, these calls are made by scammers and involve Caller ID spoofing techniques.

What is Caller ID spoofing?

This is when scammers change their caller ID to disguise their identity from the person they are calling.

There has been a recent increase in reports of this kind of call. Nevertheless, these outbound calls are definitely not transiting the IP Telecom network. This is hugely annoying for both the recipient of the call and you as the owner of the number being used in the spam calls. However, as the calls don't come anywhere near us or your systems, there isn't anything that can be done on our end.

It is advisable to verify the call logs to determine if any outbound calls were indeed made from your account. However, it’s highly probable that those calls were initiated by a spammer. Typically, spammers tend to switch to different caller ID numbers after a brief duration. Therefore, the most recommended approach at this time would be to patiently endure the situation until the spamming activity subsides.

In addition, there are moves in Ireland, the UK, and across Europe to try and cut down on this sort of abuse, moving to a model where caller IDs are more controlled. IP Telecom already ensures that every outbound call only sends a caller ID that is valid for the customer who is making the call. However, some other operators are less scrupulous and will take traffic from anyone with any caller ID and inject it into the phone system.

New regulations due by the end of the year should start to address this, but it is an industry-wide problem that won't go away overnight, unfortunately.