TIPS How to track spammer/robodialer spoofing caller id

[phinphan]

Friend of a friend is getting a hundred or more calls per day from people saying that he called their number. A telemarketer/scammer/spammer is robodialing people spoofing his landline phone number. Does anyone know of a way to find out who is the actual caller or where the call is originating from? There must be some way to track the calls. He can find out several of the numbers that were called and when the calls were made.

 

[atsak]

If you capture a spoofed caller ID call on a PBX somewhere (ie you get the co-operation of someone who was called) and find the originating carrier of the traffic, and they are in the US or Canada or like jurisdiction, and get a court order by working with the police or telecom regulator, then you might be able to stop them. Maybe.

I'd just change my number.

 

[ostridge]

a hundred or more calls per day

Hi @phinphan that is indeed quite a lot of calls. I suppose change of number is a good plan though it involves some disruption to the genuine callers.

Regardless of a number change a 4 pronged attack is needed:
1) Some sort of call blocker is the alternative, with all 'anonymous' / 'withheld' calls blocked. Thereafter blocking the perpetrators on a one by one basis. An Incrediblepbx helps in my case with the blacklist diverting blocked callers to 'Its Lenny'.
2) Register with telephone preference service/ do not call register whatever for your State (don't expect that to work).
3) Answer the calls informing the caller "Do not call this number again". Keep a record of number spoofed or not, and the caller or company name and nature of call. Never respond to requests for information never say your name/childs name /dogs name. Never reveal any dates/anniversaries/account details. Never give to charitable requests. Never believe anything the caller says.
4) Report all such callers including Debt Collectors to a couple of the whocalled websites that collect that information; and
Report all such callers to the Regulator for your country; there again don't hold your breath awaiting action.

My listed pots line has been ported to my Voip provider, and is answered by my Incrediblepbx.
The Incrediblepbx gets the CallerID checks with 'CID Superfecter' for the Cnam obtained from various data sources, Passes CLI to Blacklist function, plays SIT tones to Robocallers diverts blocked callers to 'Its Lenny' (perhaps Locally hosted), and rings out to extension for non blocked callers. The net result with a multi pronged policy is that only a few new scammers/robocalls/telemarketer/surveys get through, and those I immediately add to blacklist. Recording is also handled but may be illegal in your State see the nv tutorial.
I don't use the FCC database for my blacklist, as that isn't relevant in UK.

 

[tbrummell]

I think you missed the point @ostridge , the complainant is receiving calls from callee's that are saying he called their number. He did not call their number, the spam caller did. In this case he is pretty much out of luck.

Forward the phone to voicemail, let the mailbox fill up, and when the spammer quits advertising his number, the calls will stop (eventually).