1. Changes in Caller ID
Robocalls are such a problem because they are cheap to make. They are highly effective because they’re so cheap and can reach so many people. The other thing criminals keep in mind is: What’s the likelihood of … being caught in this criminal activity? The number for that was shockingly low for a long time.
1. Changes in Caller ID
Spam callers are changing the caller ID that shows up on your phone to a number [with an area code] that’s close to you, and that’s illegal. The question to me is always “How come they can just change their number?” That seems kind of crazy, right? You place a phone call, your provider—AT&T, Verizon, whatever—knows your phone number. How could another number appear there? The way it used to be designed is the caller ID field was essentially optional, and so nobody had verified it anywhere along the chain. The networks got more complex—a phone call will just come in, and nobody’s checking to say, “Oh, wait, who is originating this call? Is it actually the same number?” It actually does have a purpose. A big company doesn’t necessarily want anyone external to know the phone numbers of anybody internal. So it changes the caller ID so that the number that appears is the general number of the company.
The other thing to remember is that the telephone system was created among trusting parties—all of the telephone companies knew each other. But as technology improves, and smaller companies get connected to the phone networks…, you have these untrusted parties in the network that are essentially causing a lot of these problems.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-robocalls-problem-is-so-bad-that-the-fcc-actually-did-something/
2. Legal Remedies
While companies may mask their identities this can violation multiple laws. The federal telemarketing law prohibits cloaking and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act prohibits deception and fraud.
The networks got more complex—a phone call will just come in, and nobody’s checking to say, “Oh, wait, who is originating this call? Is it actually the same number?” It actually does have a purpose. A big company doesn’t necessarily want anyone external to know the phone numbers of anybody internal. So it changes the caller ID so that the number that appears is the general number of the company. The other thing to remember is that the telephone system was created among trusting parties—all of the telephone companies knew each other. But as technology improves, and smaller companies get connected to the phone networks…, you have these untrusted parties in the network that are essentially causing a lot of these problems. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-robocalls-problem-is-so-bad-that-the-fcc-actually-did-something/
