POWNAL (NEWS CENTER Maine) - Caller ID may not protect you like you think it does. The days of 1-800 numbers are long gone, and scammers are smarter than ever – using your phone to scam others.
This isn't a grandma scam, it's not a Nigerian prince asking you to wire him money, and it's not even necessarily an automated voice. This phone scam can dupe anyone.
People call you from a number that looks familiar, so you answer – but you never know who, or what, is waiting on the other line.
It's not your friend, or your family, or your kid's school. It’s a scammer calling from a 207 number.
There are two similar scams:
Spoofing: When someone imitates an existing phone number, like your local hospital, police station, or even your mom.
Neighboring: When a scammer calls you from a number just a few digits off from yours, so you answer.
Maine's Complaint Examiner, Martha Currier, is traveling around the state warning locals about these robo calls - those she says you can't avoid.
“There is nothing you can do to stop that,” she said. “Absolutely nothing you can do to stop someone else from spoofing your number on caller ID.”
Caller ID was invented to protect us – but Currier says you can't trust it. If you don't know the number, she says to let them leave a voicemail. Call them back after if it’s someone you know.
At her office, Currier gets about 12,000 complaints each year. The most complaints are for scams.
“A lot of people say, ‘Well I'm on the do not call list. Shouldn't that help?’ The do not call list is great for legitimate businesses,” Currier explained. “But scammers are not legitimate businesses.”
Currier recommends downloading free call blocking apps to report scam callers. She personally uses the White Pages app. There's also RoboKiller, among others.
For landlines, Currier recommends signing up for NoMoRobo.
If someone spoofs your number, and you start getting calls back from people you never called? She says your best bet is to ignore them. “It's not going to do you any good to get into a shouting match with a complete stranger over something you can't control,” she explained.
Many viewers on Facebook asked NEWS CENTER Maine, “How is this legal?” The answer – it’s not.
The challenge for law enforcement is that these callers are typically calling from overseas, and the calls bounce to so many different locations that it’s almost impossible to track and penalize them.