Can land-line phone numbers be spoofed ?

Usjes

Hi,

I got a phone call about 'suspicious transactions on my credit card' which was clearly a phishing scam. After dispatching with the miscreant I looked at the number he had called from and instead of the usual international number it was actually an Irish number so I called it back. It turned out to be a number for the revenue commissioners PAYE division. So, I'm wondering, does this mean that someone working in revenue is engaging in fraud in their spare time or is it possible for someone running phishing scams to spoof the number that they are calling from ? If they were spoofing a number at random it seems like an incredible coincidence that it turned out to be a revenue number.

So, anyone know, is it easy, or even possible to spoof landline numbers ?

Thanks,
Usjes.

FishOnABike

Numbers can be spoofed without much difficulty, especially from a Voice Over IP phone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_ID_spoofing

One of the reasons why you should be cautious about giving sensitive or financial information to anybody in an unsolicited call - even if it seems to come from a recognised number.

It's always best to call back on a known number e.g. number for your local bank branch (probably printed on your statement) or a publicly advertised number and check for a dialtone before dialling to make sure a potential spoofer has not held the line open by not hanging up.

ItHurtsWhenIP

FishOnABike wrote: »

... and check for a dialtone before dialling to make sure a potential spoofer has not held the line open by not hanging up.

Actually, that's not good enough ... they play back a dialtone when they "hang up".

If you get a call on a landline from a "bank" and they say you should call them back, then do it on a different phone (your mobile). If that's not possible, then try to ring your husband/wife/brother/sister/whoever's number you know from the land line and if your "bank" answers, then you know you've been tangoed!

Pat Mustard

See this story, where a solicitor spoke to fraudsters who were pretending to be from her bank, thought that she had terminated the call by hanging up, attempted to ring her own bank but was really still talking to the fraudsters all along:

Link:

Mrs Mackie's case started at the end of April. Already facing personal financial pressures, she said she received a call, purporting to be from her bank, which suggested funds in her clients' accounts were at risk.

"This lady introduced herself as Joanne Howard from NatWest saying that one of my accounts had been compromised and that I should phone the number on the back of my debit card, which is the helpline. We ended the call and I then phoned that number," she said.

Ringing immediately was Mrs Mackie's downfall. Instead of contacting NatWest security, she connected straight back to the criminals - there is a delay in landline phones clearing the previous call.

The criminals then convinced her that her funds were at risk and that the "bank" would call back the following day to transfer her money to "safe" accounts.

When a frightened Mrs Mackie, of Surrey, took the call the following day, she moved £734,000 into new accounts - in tranches of up to £99,000. Shortly afterwards she became suspicious, alerted the police and her bank and nearly £222,000 was retrieved by NatWest. The rest had been withdrawn by the crooks.

The solicitor thought that by hanging up, the call would be terminated. But she had no idea that this was not the case.