Caller ID Spoofing & Phone Call Scams

Overview

Unwanted phone calls are unsolicited communications often used for malicious purposes or telemarketing. These unwanted calls include robocalls and sometimes originate from spoofed numbers. It is likely that you will receive scam calls at some point, whether to your personal or NEOMED phone number.

What is Caller ID Spoofing?

Caller ID spoofing is a technique where callers disguise their real phone number. When you receive a call from a spoofed number, the false number is displayed on your phone's caller ID. Many spoofed numbers imitate the geographic location of the recipient. For example, if your phone number is 330-xxx-xxxx, the scam call will likely display as originating from a 330 area code as well.

What are Phone Call Scams?

Phone call scams, also known as voice phishing or "vishing," are a type of social engineering attack intended to manipulate you into divulging sensitive personal information or with the purpose of stealing your money. Many scam calls attempt to impersonate a trusted entity, such as a relative or government agency.

How to Protect Yourself

Avoiding Unwanted Calls

  • Register your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry. This helps prevent unwanted calls from companies who follow the law, but not from scammers.
  • Do not answer calls from unknown numbers. If the caller leaves a voicemail, listening to it will help you determine if the call was legitimate.
  • If you receive a call from somebody claiming to be from a company or government agency, hang up first and do not provide any answers. Go to the organization’s website and call the number listed there. 

What to Do if You Receive a Scam Call

  • Hang up immediately and do not engage.
  • Never give out personal information.
  • Do not respond to any prompts, even if the prompt purports to remove you from future call lists. Pressing a button to respond to the prompt indicates to the caller that they have reached a legitimate number and it may increase the volume of robocalls you receive in the future.

How to Block a Number

If you receive unwanted spam calls, you can block the number. Blocking a number contributes to improving phone providers' call-blocking and call-labeling. When you mark a spam call as spam by blocking the number, it may help other people in the future by displaying the number's Caller ID as possible scam. 

  • For calls to your personal number, see documentation for iPhone and Android

Identifying Common Phone Scams

  • IRS and tax scams. Callers will impersonate a government agency or tax collection service to try to convince you that need to immediately pay owed taxes over the phone. Receiving a call from somebody posing as the IRS should be an immediate red flag. The IRS uses written mail as the official method of communication.
  • Tech support scams. Frequently, callers will impersonate technology companies such as Microsoft and claim to have detected malware on your machine or offer to install updates. Their goal is to gain access to your computer and/or have you pay for their services. Never allow an unknown individual to have remote access to your computer or device. If you’re unsure whether your university computer is infected, you can always reach out to the Help Desk at x6911.
  • Lottery or prize scams. In this scam, you will be told that you won a large sum of money or prize or free vacation, but that you need to pay fees or taxes upfront in order to claim it. Always be suspicious of unsolicited communications that seem too good to be true.
  • Distressed family member scams. Callers pose as a distressed family member needing money for some fabricated emergency, such as medical expenses or bail. With voice cloning technology using AI, these scams sound much more convincing since a person's voice can be easily replicated if the scammer has an audio sample.

Report Identify Theft

Fraudsters have many ways to try and steal details, such as your name, date of birth, address, or Social Security number.

You can contact any of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit file. The alert asks creditors to contact you before opening new accounts or making changes to existing ones.

Other steps to take in case of identity theft

  • Close accounts you know, or suspect, were tampered with or opened fraudulently.
  • File a police report. Get a copy of it to submit to creditors or others who may require proof of the crime.
  • Report .
  • Review . The FTC maintains an identity theft database that can be used for investigations. Also, reporting identity theft helps the FTC learn more about it and the problems it creates.

Additional Resources

Phone Scams: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/phone-scams
Do Not Call Registry FAQ: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/national-do-not-call-registry-faqs
Caller ID Spoofing: https://www.fcc.gov/spoofing

Print Article