How is it possible that scammers can make their number look like your banks number? And if they can do that, why can’t they make it so if you try to call the bank it goes to them instead?
In: Technology
Caller ID is a feature. You can display your callback number to anything you want it to be, if you Google it, and that’s all they’re doing. If it is your bank’s number, then calling them back will go to the bank. They can only control what they present themselves to you as, they can’t hijack the whole entire phone network and reroute your calls.
The feature exists so businesses with call centers can display a uniform callback signature of their callback line rather than all the individual phone numbers of all the phones in the call center.
If you don’t like caller ID, there are phone services you can subscribe to and redirect your calls through the service, which will strip the caller ID information and display the real number. This means, though, that some legitimate services will now appear confusingly as one out of a whole block of numbers, rather than their identifying phone number.
When in doubt – don’t answer the phone. If you do, always ask for a name and a case number. Lookup the customer service number for that business yourself, DON’T rely on the callback number. Call them yourself and verify the name and case number before carrying on.
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