I received a weblink from this phone number via text this morning and it wanted me to click the link and get a "credit" on my next bill. I contacted the text number and asked what this was about and the person on the other end was a little upset saying that I "Had the wrong number" etc. I explained that I could NOT have had the wrong number since I was replying to the text I received. FISHY!
I received a weblink from this phone number via text this morning and it wanted me to click the link and get a "credit" on my next bill. I contacted the text number and asked what this was about and the person on the other end was a little upset saying that I "Had the wrong number" etc. I explained that I could NOT have had the wrong number since I was replying to the text I received. FISHY!
We can no longer believe the phone number we see on our caller IDs (CID) or text messages belongs to the person who called! The bad guys are now using easily accessed technology to "spoof" the phone numbers, so their real number does not appear.
The problem has gotten so bad, the US government actually passed an Act, called "The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009", making such spoofing illegal. See http://www.fcc.gov/guides/caller-id-and-spoofing
for more information.
The FCC adopted that Act in June, 2010, stating that violators could be fined up to $10,000 for each violation.
However, the bad guys are ignoring this law ... after all, they are criminals, and that is what criminals do. Although we now have a "law" against spoofing, it is very difficult to enforce it.
So, if you see a CID number on your phone when you are called by some scammer or telemarketer, it might not belong to the scammer! It might be the number of some unsuspecting third party ... or, it might be one of those numbers that charge $25 (plus about $9 per minute) if you call it back, or the number might not be "real" at all.