This is shocking!!

[Anonymous]

Had a call this morning, when I answered no one spoke. I’ve been having a lot of these calls lately, must have over 100 on my blocked list, but anyway, I rang the number back from a landline and a lady answered, I explained that her number had called me, she said no, I’ve not rung anyone but that I was the fourth person today to call her, with the same thing. She said yesterday she had about 10 people call her, who didn’t say anything when she answered. She then explained that her mobile, which is EE, had run out of credit and she was using it for incoming calls only!!! So, what’s going on?? How can someone make a call from a mobile that’s owned by somebody else?? Sorry, but I just find it shocking!!

[Cleoriff]

Hi @Anonymous I cant think of any logical reason other than EE may be having some network issues today and /or a system glitch....Not being with EE I can't think of any other reason....??

[Anonymous]

Thanks Cleoriff!! I wondered if some scamming person/ company had bought this number, and was using it as a smoke screen??

[MI5]

Computer dialers can be programmed to show any number they like - even yours if they wanted to.

[Anonymous]

How does that work then?? Sorry but I’m not very tech savvy!!

[MI5]

You just enter a number into the caller id field in the program.
That’s partly why you have so many blocked numbers on your phone because they keep changing the caller id each week.

[a_hcir]

As MI5 said, Caller ID has been able to be spoofed for a long time now by those who have direct access to the telecoms network.

This is used legitmately by some companies (e.g. so you know to call their main helpline rather than an individual who works there if one of their staff were to contact you) but it also gets used a lot by scammers who like to spoof legitimate looking numbers to avoid automated call blocking and make you more likely to answer, or sometimes complete gibberish.

I always dial back robocall calls (where you get called and the system hangs up on you because they don't have staff to answer) to give the staff some verbal, but 9 times out of 10 the number just doesn't work, despite looking legit.