Calls for action

7 May 2021

One of the most widely read stories on the blog has been the cautionary tale about a hirer who fell victim to a fraudulent hire scam. 

Criminals use what is known as number spoofing to disguise the caller ID on their phones in order to appear as someone else and avoid suspicion. You can read that earlier item here.

It’s a growing problem which has received publicity recently on radio and in the press. 

Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, is now warning the public not to trust caller ID, according to the BBC Radio 4 consumer affairs programme Money Box. 

To tackle the issue, the UK phone network is being updated to a new system, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) with the ability to verify phone ID against a database of numbers. 

However, that isn’t due to be completed until 2025. Until then we should all be very vigilant. 

Photo: Mikhail Nilov/Pexels