Robocaller hit with record $30 million fine

That company allegedly bombarded consumers with more than 2 billion calls — including some from the infamous Rachel of Cardholder Services — pitching a variety of products and services, including worthless extended auto warranties and credit card interest rate-reduction programs.

These robocallers use ploy of caller ID spoofing to get you to pick up the phone, as I’ve reported before, its possible to get on a web page that will place a spoof call for you using any number and name you want. How can you NOT pick up a call from the local hospital emergency room or (these guys can do simple research) your mother?

The FCC is on the case…

Caller ID and Spoofing

You can file your complaint using an online complaint form. You can also file your complaint with the FCC’s Consumer Center by calling 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice or 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322) TTY; faxing 1-866-418-0232; or writing to:

In researching this post I was surprised to find this excellent article from 2006 in USA Today. Caller ID spoofing becomes all too easy

In the last few years, Caller ID spoofing has become much easier. Millions of people have Internet telephone equipment that can be set to make any number appear on a Caller ID system. And several websites have sprung up to provide Caller ID spoofing services, eliminating the need for any special hardware.

I hadn’t thought about the new Internet phones (Not talking about Cisco IP sets here.)   Think Vontage or Ooma (wonder how you pronounce that?)   I browsed the offerings of different service providers and they call it VoIP, (that’s for voice over IP).

Several of them list “PBX features” as a option, I expect that Caller ID spoofing would fall into that area.

The USA Today article had one chilling real example of what harm can be done with spoofin. Someone made a threatening call, very threatening with mention of bombs and death threats, to the local police station. Within minutes the local address associated with the number was surrounded by police and SWAT.   Surprised the hell out of the innocent family living there. Very funny I’m sure. And I know some very funny stuff to do with ball-peen hammers and knee caps.

My prediction, either the Celluar and home phone service providers will find a way to charge you for a spoof blocking feature or service, or everyone stops accepting incoming calls that direct dial your number. I imagine a robotic butler App© that screens all calls, verifies the identity of the caller and notifies you of the details.

“I’ll accept the call from Lady Beth in the library, Jeeves“.  “Very good sir!“.

Hey! Baby…whats up?