'Spoofing' attacks: I-Team targeted
ABC7 I-Team Investigation
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Telephone "spoofing" attacks are skyrocketing, with government agencies and the Better Business Bureau saying more complaints are being filed daily.
MORE: 'Spoofing' phone scam hits Chicago hard
I found out firsthand how shocking those calls can be after one of the fake numbers looked like it was coming from the ABC7 newsroom. The people on the other line were forceful, aggressive and wanted my personal information.
"There is not a day that goes by that we don't hear about caller ID spoofing in some way," said Steve Bernas, Better Business Bureau.
My call came in from a New York number at 8:43 p.m. Sunday. A man with a sense of urgency called, telling me I had to agree to an "electronic" court subpoena and give him my personal information, so I hung up.
Bernas said there's no such thing as an electronic subpoena.
"They are trying to scare you into giving information," he said.
But then I got more calls from that same number around 11 p.m., both of which I ignored. And when I called that New York number back, all I got was a busy signal. The caller was using spoofing technology to make it look like he was calling from a different number.
Then, I received a call that looked like it was from our ABC7 Chicago assignment desk, so I answered, but the person on the other end wasn't an ABC7 employee. He was screaming, saying I hit his car and left a note with my number and then demanded my insurance information, which I didn't give up.
Security and privacy expert Jason Maloni helps companies who are victims of these kind of attacks.
"The technology is not complicated or expensive," said Jason Maloni, senior vice president at LEVICK. "Spoofing is essentially a modern con game, its social engineering trying to get you, to manipulate you to do something... all someone needs is a little bit of information."
The Illinois attorney general called "spoofing" one of the top scams of 2014.
"They can get a small amount of information each time or a large amount of information and use it to their advantage somewhere down the line," Bernas said. "Again, they are building this profile on you to try to steal your identity."
If you get a spoofing call you need to do exactly what I did: hang up. If it's a strange number you should block it on your phone. Violators can be fined if you report these calls.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
FTC: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0076-phone-scams
