Tracking spoofing calls is possible, but complicated: Clever Dialer explains what the hurdles are

110 is calling?

The phone rings and “110” appears on the display? The alarm bells ring immediately! Not because something bad might have happened to a relative, but because it could only be an attempt at fraud. Behind the spoofing scam are spam callers who use fictitious or even real telephone numbers to disguise the original number. The use of registered phone numbers in particular makes it very difficult to detect fraud.

Thomas Wrobel, spam protection expert at Clever Dialer , explains how phone number misuse can be detected, what to do against the spoofing scam and why the police never call 110.

What is a spoofing call?

Basically, spoofing can be explained very simply: the number that is displayed for incoming calls is not the actual number of the caller. However, the fraudsters do not acquire these telephone numbers legally, but rather modify them using a variety of manipulation techniques. Therefore, the telephone numbers appearing on the display can be fictitious number combinations, but can also belong to other people. The target of this cover-up tactic often has a criminally motivated background.

Area codes from abroad

A popular approach used by spam callers is to fake international calls. Those affected are shown a number with a non-local area code. Are there any friends or relatives traveling at the moment? Do friends live in the country? Such questions provide information and can help to find out whether there is a valid reason for an international call. If all possible options have been ruled out, it could be a potential spoofing call.

Shocking calls from the police

The alleged fraudsters also regularly use the shock call scam. They pretend to be confidants on the phone and want to provoke spontaneous reactions from those they call with shocking information or supposed accidents. This trick works particularly well if the emergency number “110” is shown on the affected person’s display. But be careful! These three digits are simply a speed dial function for people in emergency situations . If the police make calls, a conventional telephone number with an area code appears, as with others. So if you see “110” or “112” flashing, you can safely ignore the call.

Check phone book and reverse search

If you are unsure whether the incoming call is coming from a spoofing number, you can, for example, look in the phone book to find the origin of the number. If the phone number belongs to a company, it is reasonable to assume that there is no attempt at fraud behind the call. It is also possible to trace the number using reverse lookup. This can be done on the one hand via search engines, but also through specialized apps. The latter sometimes even check the telephone numbers for international validity. If the reverse search does not produce any results, it could most likely be a fake number. But be careful! There could still be scammers behind it who want to cheat their way through with a real number.  

How can you detect spoofing of your own number?

If real phone numbers are used as a tool to disguise the actual number, there are usually two people affected: the victim called and the person whose phone number was misused for criminal purposes. A significant indication that your own telephone number was used for other purposes can be seen in the callbacks. For example, in advertising calls where someone else's real number is used, an extremely large number of people are contacted in a very short space of time. Although not everyone will pick up the phone, some of them will dare to call back - which in turn ends up with the actual owner of the phone number. So if you find a lot of callbacks from unknown numbers in your call list, you can be almost certain that your own phone number was used as a spoofing number.

What to do about spoofing calls?

As soon as you suspect that you are either a victim of the scam or that your own number is being used for it, you should go to the police immediately. Two facts speak for this: Firstly, processing times are known to take longer than expected, so the telephone fraudsters already have a considerable lead anyway. The other point can be traced back to the requirements of the telecommunications providers: traffic data is usually deleted after just seven days due to the storage periods.

Complaint to the Federal Network Agency

At the same time, it makes sense to submit a complaint to the Federal Network Agency. The BNetzA has the option to have numbers switched off. However, since blocking a number is not very effective with fictitious or even real telephone numbers belonging to other owners, connection data is used to find the person who made the call. To file such a complaint, the following information is required: telephone number of the person concerned and the alleged caller, telephone provider of the person called and the time, date and reason for the call. In some cases, additional information about who made the call is also stored in the router, so it is important to take a screenshot of the call log there as soon as possible.

Trace calls?

Tracing back to the originator of the call can take some time and often comes to nothing. On the one hand, research is made even more difficult if the calls come directly from or are routed abroad. In addition, many of these fraud calls are also made via the Internet, where there are countless opportunities for concealment. The simplest approach to forestalling spoofing calls is to take preventive measures. Personal data should be handled sensitively and, in the best case, those affected have tools or apps that warn of potential spam calls in advance.

Source: Clever Dialer
About Thomas Wrobel:
Spam protection expert Thomas Wrobel is CTO of the Müller media subsidiary validio and founder of Clever Dialer .

The app provides reliable call information and protects consumers from spam phone calls. Already read? From funny to criminal – How deepfakes challenge our media literacy


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