On November 18th, 2014, Dubuque Police received a report of “spoofing” from UnityPoint Health / Finley Health Foundation. The Foundation was notified that its telephone number has been used as part of a caller identification (caller ID) spoofing scam.
Caller ID is designed to allow an individual to identify a caller before answering. “Caller ID spoofing” happens when a caller deliberately falsifies the information shown on the recipient’s caller ID. Altering or falsifying caller ID information is against the law.
One of the first steps in protecting yourself against caller ID spoofing is simply knowing it exists. Most people trust the information shown on caller ID is accurate. Caller ID can be falsified to appear as though the call is coming from ANY individual (family member, friend, etc.) or organization (business, school, hospital, service provider, etc.).
If you think you are a victim of caller ID spoofing, hang up and call the alleged individual/organization back, using a legitimate telephone number you know belongs to the actual individual/organization (do NOT use the “redial” feature). If the call is answered by someone other than the person who called you, it may be a case of caller ID spoofing. Ask questions and conduct research – to include conducting a reverse telephone number lookup online (Google) to see if the number has been associated with a known scam.
To protect yourself even further, you should never give your social security number, credit card number, or other personal information over the phone unless you initiated the call and are absolutely sure it’s legitimate.
If you would like to report spoofing or want more information, visit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website: fcc.gov/complaints.