Received call with my own name and number in caller ID!

I received a call 6/26/14 from my name & number, no way would I answer it, there should be laws against this.

Yes we recently got one too.  But they hung up before I answered.

Just got one of these calls with caller id showing my own phone number.  Picked up and no one on the other end.  I guess it's the same scammer from the Nazareth, PA story above.  Have been getting lots of calls about credit card services and "reselling a time share"  which we don't and have never owned.

I got one about 10 minutes ago.

I didn't answer as I really don't like talking to myself....

Wouldn't you like to have a magic wand that would make there heads explode?

Someone was able to use my name and phone number to spoof people's caller ID's and offer them lower credit card interest.  I got a slew of very foul phone calls from mad people!  I cancelled my phone number and got a new one.  I have NO clue as to how they did it.  You might look your phone number up online and see if there are a lot of complaints against it.

I just came across another article on this yesterday a haven't had the time to post it in a forum, but I guess now is as good a time as any:
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/watchdog/mc-c ... 0,925025.column
Page 1 of 2 Jun 25, 2014 06:58:18PM MDT
Credit card interest scams get more interesting
The Watchdog 8:42 p.m. EDT
8:42 p.m. EDT mcall.com
Audrey Ohl got worried when her caller ID showed Woodlawn Fire Department in South Whitehall
Township was ringing her phone. One of her children lives in that area.
"I thought, Oh my gosh, what's happening? Did something happen at their house and they're calling me?"
said Ohl, of Allentown.
Fearing the worst, she answered the phone. She was relieved to learn the fire company wasn't calling
about an emergency. But she was even more disturbed that it wasn't the fire company calling at all.
"It was one of the scams to lower the interest on your charge cards," Ohl said.
Those calls are sleazy enough, targeting desperate consumers with false promises to reduce the interest
rates on their credit cards, for an upfront fee, of course.
Now the snake oil salesmen are hijacking the phone numbers of local businesses and residents to trick
people into picking up the phone. It's a trick known as "spoofing," which for some crazy reason is legal in
some instances, though I don't believe that would be the case with these calls.
The Federal Trade Commission has shut down — on paper at least — several of these operations by
obtaining settlements under which they've agreed not to make robocalls, violate the Do Not Call law or
misrepresent their services. Some victims have gotten money back through the settlements.
Those efforts haven't stopped the calls, but business (if you want to call it that) must have fallen off after
these interest-rate scams got the publicity that they deserved, including from the Watchdog. So the callers
needed a new tactic to get people on the line, and spoofing is easy to do with a computer or cards similar
to calling cards. The calls used to show up on caller ID with names like "Cardholder Services," which
people knew to avoid.
Ohl said she promptly called Woodlawn fire company and explained what had happened. She said the
man she talked to asked her to call police and report it, which she did.
I spoke with Ron Stofko, steward of Woodlawn Social Club, which is affiliated with the fire company. He
took Ohl's call. He said it's the only one he's aware of.
But the fire company isn't the only local number that's been ripped off. Ohl also has received the calls
under the name and number of an Allentown woman she didn't know.
During one call last week, she navigated through the robocall's prompts and got a representative on the
line who identified herself only as "Kelly." Ohl asked Kelly why she was calling from the Allentown
woman's phone number.
"I told her that I reported their calls to the police, although I didn't, and to the newspaper," Ohl said. That
didn't seem to faze Kelly.  "Do you really think I'd give you my real name?" Kelly responded before hanging up.
Ohl called the woman whose number was spoofed to warn her. I talked to her, too. She's 79 and didn't
want her name published because she doesn't want to be targeted for other frauds. But she told me she's
pretty sure why her number was selected as a front for these crooked calls.
She, too, had been getting the annoying calls offering her an opportunity to lower her credit card interest
rates. She couldn't take it anymore and tore into one caller.
"Get me off this list," she told them. "You're a scam. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
She assumes that made her a patsy when they were looking for a phone number to hijack.
I can see that happening, just as I can see why a fire company's number would be selected — for the fear
factor. Other spoofed numbers, though, seem to be chosen randomly.
Chuck Ballard of Emmaus has received several of these calls, too. His caller ID said they were coming
from a local car dealer.
"Not only are these guys inflicting pain and suffering on seniors, they also damage local businesses now,"
Ballard said. "I think it is long past time for a federal law to prohibit a false caller ID number on any phone
call."
While it sure seems like something that should be illegal, Congress thought otherwise.
A federal law enacted in 2010 prohibits caller ID spoofing "with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or
wrongfully obtain anything of value." But Congress didn't outlaw spoofing entirely, noting there might be
honest uses, such as a domestic violence shelter wanting to conceal its real number.
But fraudulent spoofing seems to be on the rise, according to a warning last week from the Better
Business Bureau that cited the interest-rate calls as an example.
"With many people rejecting calls from unfamiliar numbers, scammers are increasingly posing as familiar
businesses, government organizations or people," the BBB warned.
Last month, I wrote about a Nazareth woman who was a spoofing victim. Her number was being used by
a shady roofing contractor trolling for business.
Keep this in mind when your phone rings. You can't always believe your caller ID, which is why you never
should provide personal information to someone who calls you, even if your phone says it's your bank or
physician. Hang up and call them to verify the call. Then you can feel safe answering their questions.
The Watchdog is published Thursdays and Sundays. Contact me at watchdog@mcall.com, 610-841-2364
or The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown, PA, 18101. I'm on Twitter @mcwatchdog and Facebook
at Morning Call Watchdog.
Copyright (c) 2014 Allentown

I believe that his idea the the criminals are getting craftier since there is so much publicity and are now trying to spoof numbers that they think their potential victims might answer.  I also believe that they are trying to circumvent services such as NOMORO and call blocking devices.

add me to the list, my home number showing up on my caller ID.  Clearly spoofed number from a scammer.  Did what I always do with unknown numbers.  Answer & hang up within 2 seconds.  Seems to have reduced the number of calls I get.  Oh, I'm also filing a complaint with the FCC for a Do Not Call Violation w/ number spoofing.

I had a call from myself today, when I saw the Caller id and knew I was the only one in the house, I didn't answer.  Left no message.

A similar thing has been happening on our phone.  Almost daily we receive a call from a number with all but the last digit, including the area code, the same as ours.  I have set up a greeting to indicate that friends and legitimate businesses with whom we trade should please leave messages, but no one from this number ever has.  I am tempted to call the local number, sans area code, just to see if it is indeed someone legitimate.  My belief is that this is being done on purpose, spoofing the number so that curiosity will force us to answer or return the call.  Not going to happen!

Yes. That exact thing happened to be the other day. I was shocked to see my name and number on the caller ID.  I too answered and was offered a decrease in my credit card, although it was a recording and the woman never said what credit card she was offering to lower the finance rate on.  I also hung up because it was a recording and there was no way to talk to anyone. I don't understand how anyone is able to use my information.  I only wish I had taken down the telephone number she gave for me to call for my finance charge reduction.

A follow up post by the writer of my original post with additional information and web links.  I fear that we are now in for a very large and long lasting round of being harassed by these criminals who must be getting desperate to make much more than the millions they are stealing from us today.  I have to almost believe that all this is being done and coordinated by criminal organizations.



Readers shed more light on latest twist on credit card interest
scam calls

My column today on the latest twist in the
credit card interest rate scam hit home with a
lot of people, and I'm starting to see a trend
emerge.
I've heard from about a dozen people today
who have received the sleazy calls disguised
as calls coming from local businesses and residents, with
their number and name appearing on the caller ID. I also
heard from someone whose phone number was used as a
front to make those underhanded calls.
If you're not familiar with this, read today's Watchdog column (
here) for the background.
The short version of the tale is that scheisters that rip off
people by telling them they can reduce the interest rates on
their credit cards for an advance fee now have started
cloaking their calls by portraying a false name and phone
number on caller IDs in the hopes you'll pick up. It's known as
"spoofing." You can read more about what that is in this
column I wrote several years ago.
After talking to several of the people who reached out to me
today, here's the trend that I'm seeing. The numbers that are
being "spoofed" often are only a few digits different than the
recipient's phone number.
Here's an example. A woman whose home phone number
ends in 2707 got spoofed calls coming from a business with
the same first three digits and ending in 2711. There were a
few other examples, too. In one case, a woman said she got
a call from her own number!
I'm not familiar enough with spoofing technology to
understand how a con artist can make that happen, but I've
seen enough examples to know it's happening too often to
discount it.
I also know the Federal Communications Commission has
been hearing a number of complaints about this issue from
Pennsylvania residents. A Slatington man whose phone
number was hijacked to make calls to a woman nearby told
me he filed a complaint with the FCC and was told complaints
previously had been pouring in from the Chicago area, and
now were coming in from Pennsylvania.
Several people have asked me where they can file complaints
about these calls. You can try your local police just so they
have a record of the scam attempt, but I don't know how
much they'd be able to do about it.
You also could try the FCC (888-225-5322 (prompt 5) or
online), the Federal Trade Commission (877-FTC-HELP or
online) and/or the Pennsylvania attorney general's office
(800-441-2555 or online).
If you've received these scam calls under spoofed numbers,
freel free to contact me and share your story. You can read a
recent warning from the Better Business Bureau about
spoofing here.

http://blogs.mcall.com/watchdog/2014/06/reade ... scam-calls.html
June 26, 2014 mcall.com
Contact the Watchdog
Contact the Watchdog at
watchdog@mcall.com, by fax at
610-820-6693, by mail at 101 N. Sixth St.,
Allentown, PA 18101 or by phone at
610-841-2364 (ADOG). E-mail inquiries
typically will get you a faster response.
Please include any documentation

Yes, very strange. Welcome to 1984?

Received the same call a few days ago and reported it to my phone carrier.  Interestingly enough, they hadn't heard of this particular variation where the CID shows your own number.  I didn't answer the call and no message was left.  My main concern, however, is the possibility that BigA mentioned above:  that if calls to me show up with my number on the CID, the caller could also make calls to others using my number, with consequences resulting.  Sleazy, sleazy.  And, yes, it's strange to have to block your own number!

"Rachel" from "card services" fooled me into picking up, because I thought the caller ID was my mom. Grr. It was my own number.

Actually, ray, you CAN block your own number.  You can't phone yourself from your own number anyway, so there's no detriment to blocking it.