Caller ID can no longer be trusted

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Since its introduction in the 1980s, Americans (and, indeed, many citizens in the rest of the world) have come to depend upon Caller ID as trustworthy. After all, the Caller ID comes from Ma Bell, the bastion of dependability.

Not any more.

There are several commercial ventures whose line of business is spoofing Caller ID for a fee. Some of the quotes from their web sites:

We like to think of it as “mobile invisibility”, the highest quality Caller ID spoofing service available anywhere in the world.

[company name deleted] allows you to be whoever you want to be.

As an added bonus, we offer you the option to record your conversation for FREE which you can later retrive by logging-in to your control panel or calling our 800 number from anywhere.

In addition, we also offer the ability to change your voice to sound like a man, a women or yourself for FREE.

[company name deleted] offers you the ability to change what someone sees on their call display when they receive a phone call. This is typically referred to as “Caller ID Spoofing” or “Call Display Spoofing”.

My advice: do not any longer rely upon Caller ID as genuine. If any party calls you and claims to be from an institution requesting information from you (even to “verify” your identity), make them prove THEIR identity to you first.