Another Scam?

[Jim Creech]

Got a call on my cell phone last night. A recorded message from "The United States Postal Service" telling me that they could not deliver my mail because they did not have my address. (Seriously folks, look at the envelope) and to stay on the line for the next operator and provide them with the info they need to deliver my mail. The number that showed on my phone was 866-366-4357. Anybody else got this yet?

[Chris Damm]

If you have to ask it's probably a scam.

[Dan Hintz]

Spoofed number.. it belongs to Dominion Virginia Power.

[Stephen Cherry]

Spoofed number.. it belongs to Dominion Virginia Power.

Is it possible to call from one number, and make it look like the call is coming from another?

[mike holden]

Is it possible to call from one number, and make it look like the call is coming from another?

Must be, I got the same call and number in Michigan.

[Art Mann]

Is it possible to call from one number, and make it look like the call is coming from another?

Yes. It is very easy to do. One should never rely on caller ID or reverse phone number look-up to verify the authenticity of a caller.

[Steve Baumgartner]

Is it possible to call from one number, and make it look like the call is coming from another?
Yes. This loophole was originally created so that fund-raising firms calling on behalf of a charity can display the name of the charity on caller ID instead of something like "ripoff marketing". Subsequently, the equipment to spoof caller ID has become widely available and used by a huge number of telemarketers for illegitimate purposes and to ignore the do-not-call list. These guys regularly change the spoofed number, making it almost impossible for the FTC to catch them.

[Wade Lippman]

That's a new one; it actually is Dominion Virginia. I guess the scams that call me are too lazy to spoof numbers.

About a quarter of the mail I get actually goes somewhere else; usually a neighbor, but sometimes across town. So if USPS said they couldn't deliver my mail I would have fallen for it.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

Phone companies have no incentive to stop this, because they make money on the traffic.

Just as internet hosting companies have no incentive to stop spammers, because they make money on the traffic.

[Jerry Thompson]

Anyone calling, that I don't know, and asks for me I tell them "He is deceased." I will have to wait a few months to see if calls are diminished. The do not call site is a joke. No one abides by it IMHO.

[paul cottingham]

Actually, spoofing caller id with a VoIP system such as asterisk is trivial. It is also much harder to trace to a physical location, CSI magic aside.

[Trevor Howard]

I've had the same scam only they contacted me through email, claiming they couldn't deliver my package.

[Dan Hintz]

Is it possible to call from one number, and make it look like the call is coming from another?

I can spoof a number/name using my home VoIP system... nothing fancy needed, doesn't cost me anything extra to do so.

[Brian Elfert]

Any business that calls you and then wants to know a bunch of information they should already know is almost always a scam. A legitimate business should know your name, account number, address, and all that before they call you. I almost never have issues with the wrong mail in my mailbox.