Attorney General Warns of Caller ID Spoofing

| 9/5/2012

The North Dakota Attorney General`s Office is warning residents about the practice of Caller ID Spoofing. In Caller ID Spoofing, people disguise their phone number so the recipient`s caller ID will show a different number, even one that is local.

The Attorney General`s office says that using a spoofed number, the scammers are able to contact more people and pitch their scam to them. Caller ID Spoofing can also be used for voicemail hacking, wire fraud, phone phishing, prank calls and to make threats.

The following tips are from the Attorney General`s office:

- Don`t trust anyone. Anyone you do business with already has the information they need on you. They will not call and ask you your social security number or to verify your account number.

- If you receive a call from your bank, credit card company etc., write down the number on the caller ID, hang up and redial their number.

- Don`t assume it is who you think it is, even if the Caller ID indicates it is a relative, your children`s school or the local police department. You may wish to exercise some caution. For instance, you could hang up and call the number back.

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