Caller ID Spoofing and its Importance to Investigators


In the 14 years I have been actively skip tracing for a living I have come to despise Caller ID. It seems that every person I call has Caller ID and uses it to screen unwanted or unknown telephone calls. Most importantly of course, I neither want to give up my identity nor do I want to tip someone off to the underlying reason for my telephone call while skip tracing. I have employed countless measures to defeat or get around Caller ID since its inception; I’ve used inconvenient calling cards, dialed the (mostly useless) *67 prefix, paid for restrictive “blind lines” and then there’s the hugely expensive method of having a telephone operator connect my call.

Imagine having the ability to call anyone on the telephone and have the number of your choice appear on that person’s Caller ID equipment! Your telephone pretexts would have real believability and your telephone calls will be answered when the target may otherwise be screening his or her calls. Best of all, your anonymity is guaranteed as long as you don’t give up any personally identifying information or the telephone number from which you are calling.

Recently, several companies have been offering a service via the Internet that allows anyone to trick, or “spoof,” standard Caller ID service. Skip tracers, Investigators, Bail Recovery Agents and anyone else employed to find people for a living can instantly understand the potential of such a service and I am excited to say that this tool has been a HUGE boost to the skip tracing professions! Best of all, these services have been deemed legal by the Federal Trade Commission as long as it is not used for illegal purposes such as spoofing a 911 call, fraud, a call from law enforcement, a legitimate business entity, etc., etc. I hold out hope that it will remain legal because it has become so important to the successful completion of many of my own bail enforcement assignments.

First let me explain how this service typically works and then we’ll integrate its use within several real-world skip tracing scenarios.

First you have to sign up for an account with one of the services available on the Internet; most sites only require $20 deposit to be made with a credit card or through PayPal. There is very little in the way of user authentication or identification (for real anonymity buy a $20 Visa gift-card and use it along with a Yahoo! email account to sign up for an account). The user is then given an account number and special numbers to call to begin a spoofed call. When calling, the user first enters his account number, then the telephone number that he or she would like to appear on the target’s Caller ID display. Lastly, the user enters the number he or she wants to call. That’s it! When the call is connected the target will see the spoofed number and the name that is on file with the telephone company for that number. In certain circumstances the target may see an “Out of Area” message or something similar in nature, but never the investigator’s number or identification.

The typical spoofing service charges the account for every minute spent on an outgoing call made through the service; I’ve seen rates from $.05 to $.25 per minute. Considering it’s effectiveness when used with a solid suitable pretext and how inexpensive this service is when compared to a typical database search, it has become my personal favorite and one of the first tools I use on every assignment (since I believe that the telephone is still the most powerful skip trace tool available).

The first rule to follow when using a call spoofing service is to never use this tool to commit a crime. With that said, the second rule would be to never give out your own name or the telephone number from which you are calling. Instead, leave your “trap line” number on the target’s Caller ID equipment and give that number to the target, that way you will capture the number that the target uses to call you back; we can do a lot with the average telephone number. The last rule is to always test the number you are going to spoof and make sure that the Caller ID information that will be displayed will be “convincing” enough to get your target to pick up. The name that will show up on Caller ID equipment is dependant upon the number you spoof and is not always complete or descriptive enough for our purposes.

If you haven’t already started to think of at least a hundred ways to use this service while looking for someone let me give you a few examples in which a spoofed call allowed me to close a case very quickly or made the difference between certain failure and resounding success. I make no representation as to the legality or ethics of these calls.

Several weeks ago I had a fugitive case that had pretty much come to a standstill and I had very few leads left. The one thing that I did have was an unlisted landline telephone number where no one would ever answer the phone. I knew that the defendant was probably unemployed and that he was a skilled pipe-fitter and welder having worked many large-scale construction projects. So I spoofed the call and made it look like it was coming from the local labor union, figuring that the call would go unanswered again. Much to my surprise a man answered the phone and I introduced myself as a recruiter for the “Local 156” and asked for the defendant by name. He said that that the person I was looking for was not in and asked if he could take a message. I told him that I got his name through an “employee referral network” and that I needed some more welders ASAP for a shopping center that was being built downtown. I explained that I needed so many employees that I was hiring people with experience on the spot. I left him my cell phone number (which was actually my trap-line number) and asked that he call me anytime, day or night, if he needed a job that would last several weeks. The guy told me that he was a welder too and that he needed a job but did not have transportation- I told him that it could be arranged if he lived in the area. He asked me how much the job paid per hour and I told him that I’d have to see him cut and weld first but that it could be around $30 an hour (I still have no idea if that is the going rate) if he did a reasonably decent job. To sweeten the pot I told him that if he passed the qualification test and brought on additional welders that I would pay him a $250 bonus for each referral that also passed. He mentioned the defendant’s name and said that he was “real good with lots of experience.” The trap had been set.

When I hung up, I changed the voice mail message on my trap line to reflect the pretext I was using and, as I predicted, the defendant called me later that afternoon and left a message. I called back a little later and, to make a long story short, I arranged for the defendant to meet me at a local job site where I was waiting to make the apprehension. Everything went smoothly… case closed.

In a similar situation, I spoofed a telephone number of a local temporary employment firm and called a defendant’s mother. I explained to her that I was conducting a reference check on an applicant (using the defendant’s name) and asked her how she would rate him as an employee… she was clearly confused by my assumption that she was an employer; I was using a common pretext tactic of creating confusion in order to create opportunity. She said, “I think you are mistaken, I am her mother not an employer.” She paused for a minute and repeated the name and telephone number that showed up on her caller ID equipment (I had not given her that information) and she asked if she could have her daughter call me back to clear up the confusion. I apologized profusely and said that I had actually just misread the application in front of me, explaining that “I do a hundred of these a day it seems.” She laughed like she understood. I asked if we could back up and try again… then asked her what she would consider the defendant’s best qualities to offer and employer and we talked for a few more minutes. My last question was to inquire if she was currently employed to which she replied that she was. I said, “Great… looks like I got to this one a little late.” The mother laughed again and said that she hated her job at (the local picture framing company in the mall) because she hated working weekends. I replied, “Well perhaps I can find another opportunity for her and that I would call her as soon as I went through my list” and thanked her for her time. I went straight to the defendant’s workplace and took her into custody. Caller ID spoofing had clearly been the deciding factor in whether my pretext was going to work or not.

I’ll share with you one last instance in which caller ID spoofing made the difference in a bail enforcement assignment just to reinforce the power of this technique. I often use a package pretext where I need a defendant to sign for an insured package (this one works!); this pretext not only gets me to the defendant’s door but ensures that they are going to open the door when I show up (in plainclothes of course). Until recently it was a bit of a chore to convince the people on the other end of the line, whether it was the defendant or his or her acquaintance, that I was representing a delivery service. Now that I can put the world’s most popular delivery service’s telephone number on the caller ID box it has gotten almost too easy! Just last week I called an indemnitor who told me previously that she was not going to help me in my investigation because the defendant was being wrongly accused and afterwards would not answer my calls. I uses the voice changing feature provided by my service provider to disguise my voice (as a woman too!) and used the package pretext on her- the indemnitor gave me the -new address- for my “delivery” to the defendant. Another case closed. It really can be that easy with the right tools.

On a lighter note, I called my buddy (he infamously screens all of his calls) once and spoofed the White House’s number as a joke and he actually picked up when I was just going to leave a message. I had set up the voice changing feature so I wouldn’t get caught so easily and spent 3 or 4 minutes busting his chops for making negative comments against the government (He is constantly emailing the White House about various current affairs and considers himself a bit of an activist.)- he was HOT but acted like such a pansy when I asserted myself with him (“yes sir,” “no sir”)! On our next poker night, that’s all he could rant about- how he was letting someone have it at the “White House’s Department of Public Affairs and Communication,” which of course was a lie. I plunged the knife in deep and gave it a twist when I played the conversation on my computer for the guys… he had been “punked.” I can record my conversations with the service provider I use and have it sent to me via email as a .wav file. The ability to easily record your conversations is an extremely important function; I have used recording of conversations with defendants, indemnitors, witnesses, conspirators, friends, police officers, etc. in order to “influence” how my assignments are handled- just make sure that you know and follow the laws concerning recording telephone calls in your own situations.

I honestly could write a hundred pages on the topic of using this type of service and case studies where it was a case breaker, but I am sure that you are already running scenarios through your own head. Caller ID spoofing works in all skip tracing efforts- debtors, heirs, bail bond forfeitures, service of process, etc. I urge you to put this tool in your bag immediately.

My investigators and I have tried different service providers but have found none better or with more service features than the provider I am currently using. It has worked flawlessly and is extremely inexpensive compared to other services that specialize in providing this service to professionals. I very rarely make service recommendations because I have burned in the past- but I have no problem making this recommendation. Best of all you can get started for as little as $10 rather than the $20 minimum others are charging.

If a service like this interests you, click here to go to their site right now and learn more.

If you sign up via this special link above, send me an email and I’ll send you an article I wrote about using pretexts to help you better understand using them for investigative purposes.

I hope this helps in your own pursuit of success!