As I was huddled in the bathroom with two big dogs on Tuesday to avoid potential bodily harm from a tornado, I received a robocall from what appeared to be our local CVS. It totally ticked me off!
Upon a closer look, I found their phone number is being spoofed… used by a scammer to masquerade as a trusted entity.
This doesn’t make sense to me…
We have apps that can replicate human intelligence and problem-solving abilities, but not one that can stop call spoofing? We have apps that can manipulate a photo to move a creek to a spot where there isn’t one… but not an app that can stop call spoofing?
What doesn’t work.
You can use a spam blocker on your phone but that doesn’t stop calls coming from spoofed numbers. You can block the number — but what if it’s a number of a company you use? (Like me with CVS.) You can sign up for the government’s ‘do not call’ list — but that doesn’t do a thing to prevent spoofing.
They’re working on it… at least that’s what they say.
While phone companies and regulatory bodies are working on implementing solutions for call authentication and verification systems, such as STIR/SHAKEN, it remains a cat-and-mouse game as malicious actors continue to find new ways to spoof caller ID.
In the meantime, don’t be mad at CVS — and don’t call-back people you don’t know.
Now you know: The temperature on the moon at the Apollo 11 landing site was 200ºF (93ºC).