In the latest news about caller ID spoofing legislation, the U.S. House Energy Commerce Committee advanced a bill meant to prevent telephone advertisers from duping citizens into answering telemarketing phone calls by hiding their phone numbers using caller ID spoofing systems. This legislation is called “The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009,” and is headed to the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote. While many professionals use caller ID spoofing for legitimate business purposes (such as a lawyer who wants to return a client’s call from their cell phone without disclosing their personal number), enough advertisers have attempted to mislead citizens by using false caller ID information that legislation has been deemed necessary. However, lawmakers are doing their best to keep caller ID spoofing services intact for the businesspeople and private citizens who use them for legitimate purposes. Of course, law enforcement and agents of national security are exempt.

This might have you wondering if there are any other laws on the books regarding call spoofing. The most important thing to know is that caller ID spoofing is absolutely legal; however, a few restrictions do exist regarding its use. Several states have passed laws similar to the federal bill, and these laws intend to keep caller ID spoofers from deceiving or defrauding telephone call recipients. Generally speaking, though, caller ID spoofing for the sake of a joke, prank, or even revenge is legal, as long as the phone calls don’t start to border on harassment. Most caller ID spoofing services offer recording capabilities; it is worthwhile to note that in many states recording a phone call without the express consent of all parties is illegal.

Another use for caller ID spoofing that is not technically illegal, even if it is morally questionable, is voicemail hacking. The process works by using the cell phone number you are dialing as your spoofed ID, tricking the cell phone into thinking it is calling itself. Cell phone voicemail systems which have the password protection disabled are the most vulnerable to voicemail hacking. There have been many high profile voicemail hacks, including the voicemails of tabloid queens Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. Again, what might simply be a little harmless (and legal) investigative action becomes illegal if it crosses into harassment territory. One high profile example involves a fashion house publicity director named Ali Wise, who used her Spoofcard to hack into her rivals’ voicemails and delete messages over 700 times. She faced numerous counts of eavesdropping, computer trespass and tampering, stalking, and aggravated harassment.

Then there are the obvious misuses of caller ID spoofing. Known as “swatting,” there have been some pranksters who have taken their jokes much too far by sending SWAT teams to various addresses using caller ID spoofing services. “Pranks” like this result in jail time, since the spoofing service will hand over the account holder’s information to law authorities as soon as it’s asked. Of course, using caller ID spoofing services for obvious illegal activities such as fraud or information phishing will also most likely result in intervention by law enforcement.

Call Spoofing has many legitimate uses, despite the rather unfortunate connotations of “Fake Caller ID.” In some industries, such as businesses with telecommuting employees, the ability to change the number on a caller ID can act as a powerful branding tool. It is also a method of bolstering trust in the client.

This need for a uniform number is especially true for companies with tech support departments. In many cases, techs work from literally all over the country, or may be operating from a company like India or the Philippines. A growing technical support department, with an eye towards unification, will need a way to create a system that allows all of their employees to call clients, no matter where they are, while providing them with caller ID information from corporate.

fake caller ID

By using a fake caller ID card, much like a minutes card, users can input a card number and pin, followed by their requested spoof information. When the call is placed, the individual receiving the call will see the spoofed or fake information. Because this works by using a calling card, this type of call spoofing is especially effective for calling over a VoIP system, like Skype.

Call spoofing is applicable in many other industries, however. Collections agents often use call spoofing. No person who is aware that they’re behind on a payment will willingly pick up the phone for a collection agency, but they are likely to answer a call from the bank the collector is working for. By using a number other than the number that clients are blocking from their call lists, collection agents may actually have a chance to do their job, rather than meet with multiple hang-ups.

Fake Caller ID is also useful for bail bondsmen, who must reach criminals who have skipped out on their bonds. This is also a very useful tool for criminal investigators, and private investigators who may need to speak to someone without giving away their true place of work. These legitimate uses of call spoofing put the practice in a somewhat friendlier light. Other legal uses for faking a caller ID are to spoof text messages, or to use the options on some fake caller ID cards that allow users to change the tone and pitch of their voice.

There are other uses for call spoofing that range from pranks, to illegal practices. If you use fake caller ID cards for your business, be sure you understand the rules for using them as they apply to your state or country. These pre-paid cards are easy to get, and even easier to use, bus as with any powerful technology, using them with criminal intent is illegal. It’s illegal, for instance, to use call spoofing to commit wire fraud, or fake a 911 call. These actions can be traced back to the original phone and location, even if a call spoofing card is used.

Unfortunately, many of us have been faced by the difficulty of a cheating partner or spouse. Learning your loved one has been cheating, or even suspecting it, can be devastating. It is often difficult to prove, conclusively, that the cheating is occurring. Most of the options available are intrusive or expensive. Hiring a private detective or attempting to follow your partner yourself are often poor solutions. Instead, many are turning to technology like call spoofing as a tool for catching their cheating partner.

The set-up is simple. Imagine for a moment that you have a strong suspicion that your partner is cheating. If possible, review their cell phone call log and contacts to find the number of the ‘other’ cheater. Once you have this information and a simple fake caller ID card, you are ready to use call spoofing technology to catch your cheating partner.

If you were to use your own cell phone and contact information, or to hide your caller ID information, to call the ‘cheater’ it is unlikely your call would be picked up. By substituting your partner’s caller ID information for your own, you increase the likelihood of making contact. As an added benefit, the ‘cheater’ will believe your partner placed the call. This way, there will never be ‘suspicious’ calls or concerns that you know!

Technology on your side

Luckily, there isn’t a lot of complicated software or hardware involved. In fact, all that is required is a simple fake caller ID card. Think of it like buying minutes for your phone. The cost is not prohibitive and the cards are readily available on the Internet. Even better, it only takes a few minutes to change the contact information.

Some of these call spoofing programs offer additional benefits that can make collecting evidence of the infidelity even easier. In some cases, you may be able to record all or part of a conversation for later use. It is important to be careful using this feature, as it is illegal in some states to record conversations without the permission of both parties.

The possibilities for fake caller ID are almost limitless. They can be used any time you wish to keep your name and contact information private. People have had success using the technique to fake telecommunicating from home, when they are really on vacation, and to assist in skip tracing.

The future of caller ID

When caller ID was first developed, it was an ‘added’ service and one that not many people had. As technology changed, caller ID has become the norm. While most of us enjoy the ability to screen calls, it does have its downside – caller id announces us to everyone we call. Fake Caller ID is yet another step in the process of developing technologies to aid us in communications. Whether you are choosing to use Fake Caller ID to catch a cheating spouse, lie about your whereabouts or simply protect your identity, it is a tool that everyone should have in their arsenal.

As broadband internet and VoIP technology becomes commonplace, more and more offices have employees working remotely. Some of these telecommuting employees are work at home mothers, or employees with disabilities. Some are outsourced talent, who may work in another state, or even another country. So how do companies maintain their integrity with such a disparate work force? While it’s possible to tie everyone together online with email signatures and usernames, how can companies do the same for business calls? The answer is call spoofing!

Fake caller ID technology is an excellent way to tie a workforce together. Call spoofing works best over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which makes it ideal for international employees who are using a VoIP program, such as Skype to make calls. For a business with employees spread across the globe, it’s important to maintain the impression of a solid, traditional workforce.

That’s why so many industries are switching to fake caller ID as a way to maintain their corporate image. Consumers want assurance that the people they are speaking to are professionals. It’s hard to convey that image when business calls come from wildly different numbers. If the sales representative is calling from a cell phone and customer service is working through Skype, and the technical team is calling from the head office, it can cause a lot of confusion and mistrust on the end of the consumer.

A much better solution lies in call spoofing. With a good fake caller ID program on hand, each of these calls can appear to originate from the same source. This will alert the customer to respond to calls from any member of your team, whether it’s a response to a customer service ticket, or information from a sales rep.

Another great feature of call spoof services like Cdyne.com are text-to-speech applications that allow employees to create standardized messages that go right out to the consumer. The great Google widget that is included with this service features a dialer for quick calling. This is perfect for business who outsource to countries like India or the Philippines. With text-to-speech options, heavily accented calls are no longer a concern, and even employees without full command of English can make company calls through the aid of pre-written scripts.

Fake Caller ID

Is it legal to use a fake caller ID?
Of course it is! It’s entirely legal to use call spoofing, provided that the actions of the caller are responsible. It’s not recommended that you use fake caller numbers for illegal purposes, as calls can always be traced back to origin and location.

Where can I get call spoofing for my company?
There are several reputable brands that offer fake caller ID cards and services. The top providers are
Spoofcard, Spooftel, and Telespoof. These companies provide easy to use service that can be quickly integrated into your regular business practices.

If you have caller ID, you have undoubtedly had at least one blocked call in your lifetime and if you’re like everyone else, you want to know who was calling you from that ‘private’ number that showed up on your caller id.

If you own a cell phone there is a service that will give you this information and much much more! The service is called TrapCall and is available in (4) different levels of service including a free basic version and on up to a $24.95 a month version that includes many additional features that your cell phone provider should have provided you with.

The service Plans

TrapCall is nice enough to provide a free plan, we decided to try the free trial of the Bear Trap service ourselves and continued to keep it and pay for it accordingly.

TrapCall Testing & Usage

We tested many features of the Bear Trap service and found it to be a great service. We tested TrapCall with an iPhone 3GS. The initial reason for testing was to discover who was calling from blocked numbers, which the service revealed very easily. Beyond that, we found an additional use for the service that TrapCall makes no mention of on their website.

We found that if you travel overseas and want to avoid keeping your phone on and incuring expensive international roaming fees, you can turn your cell-phone (or leave your phone off) into an airplane like mode (so that it doesn’t try to connect you to a cell network). This will allow your calls to be forward to your voicemail while you are in a different country. As long as calls are able to reach your voicemail, you can receive an email notification of the phone call with caller ID, as well as a transcript of the voicemail. This has the potential to save you a bunch of money if you are a regular overseas traveler.

Note: The reason we say OFF, is we found that if you leave your phone ON and do not answer, the incoming call is rarely if ever routed to your voicemail. It usually goes to a message from the local cell phone company.

Conclusion

I can tell you that the service works great, it does an amazing job of unmasking private callers. The additional features of the paid service are worthwhile if you need them. We really have nothing bad to say about the service!

DISCLAIMER: This is neither an affiliate nor a paid blog posting of any kind. The editor of this site had a genuine need for the service and has actually paid for the service for the past several months. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the writer and were not influenced in any way by TrapCall or it’s affiliates.

A recent episode of Law & Order SVU recently featured the Fake Caller ID technology as part of the mystery of one of the cases. This particular case involved a teenager using text message spoofing to send harassing and lewd images of an underage girl. The funny thing about the episode is that none of the services currently support spoofing your text messages with attachments (atleast that we know of).

Caller ID Spoofing shouln’t be used for harassing or illegal purposes.

The service was called Phone Fake, and of course that actual service doesn’t exist, but others do. If you want to try out caller ID spoofing or text spoofing, check out our list of providers.

This video shows that it is entirely possible to find out who is calling you from a blocked phone number. It’s not an easy method and for someone without some technical know how, but pretty useful indeed. It involves using Asterisk and a SIP Trunk. For some of you this might be a fun project to try out, you will learn all about VOIP and PBXs.

Also of note: By using a third party caller spoofing service, your phone number will NOT show up if someone is using this method. By allowing your call to be placed on your behalf and connected to you with one of these services, your anonymity remains intact because only the real number of services’ outbound line would show up…if anything at all.

A great byproduct of using the caller ID spoofing technology is the ability to look up the owner of a phone number. For instance if you use one of the caller id spoofing services, and enter in the number you want to be displayed (the number you want to know who owns) without a name, 9 out of 10 times it will display the real owners name. This usually works most of the time if you are in the same area as the number in question, but it will work sometimes even if it’s not.

Although not the intended usage of fake caller ID, it is a great product and is used by private investigators as a fast, easy, and inexpensive method of obtaining ownership information of a phone number. Check it out for yourself!

For anyone out there thinking of pranking their friends for April Fools Day, how about doing it with a fake caller ID phone call…. The possibilities are endless with this one, and you can re-live the prank over and over for years if you choose the record call option available from most of the caller id spoofing service providers. You can even change your voice to make the call more believable. If you have heard about caller id spoofing and wondering what it was, this is the perfect chance to check it out. Read our list of caller id spoofing providers to find the lowest prices in the industry.