![]() ![]() These apps market their services as a way for debt collectors, private investigators, and other professionals to mask their identity, and as an all-in-good fun conduit to prank calls. Thanks to apps like “SpoofCard,” anyone with internet access can disguise their personal number with a new one of their choosing - even if it already belongs to a law enforcement agency, a hospital, or an Outback Steakhouse. It’s actually pretty easy to hijack a phone number, Hanson says. What they wanted was for me to handover my credit card number, in a panic, which they could have charged for any number of purchases, or my social security number, making me one of the more than 15 million Americans who fall prey to identify fraud every year. It even has a name: “Spoofing,” a range of techniques criminals use to pretend to be someone they’re not with the help of fake IP addresses, emails, or, in my case, phone numbers. Next, I tried Paige Hanson, identity education lead at the cybersecurity firm Symantec (which makes Norton antivirus software). “And said you’re under investigation? Are you?” “They called you from this number?” he asked. ![]() Eventually I got through to an investigator, who told me he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. I called the switchboard again, and tried a few of the extensions. The real New York Police Department didn’t have any answers. Who was this criminal mastermind, and how did he get my number? What, exactly, was his end game? Did he want my money? My social security number? Do other people get these calls? Do they fall for them? Why did the call come from an ACTUAL POLICE STATION? This was a scammer.Įventually, he hung up on me, and I was left with some burning questions. If you don’t comply, someone will come and arrest you.”Īfter a few minutes of escalating frustration on both ends, and several failed attempts to press the guy for more information, it finally clicked. “Do you know you’re under investigation? Have you been briefed on your file?” Do you know that you’re the subject of an FBI investigation?” “Hi is this Miss Kristen Bahler? This is very urgent.
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