Caller ID Spoofing Explained
If someone has contacted you claiming they received a call from your phone number—but you never made that call—your number has likely been “spoofed.” This can be alarming, but it’s important to understand that your phone system and TELAIR’s network have not been compromised.
What is Caller ID Spoofing?
Section titled “What is Caller ID Spoofing?”Caller ID spoofing occurs when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Scammers and robocallers frequently use this technique to make their calls appear to come from local numbers, trusted businesses, or even random phone numbers belonging to real people—like yours.
This is possible because of how the traditional telephone network was designed decades ago. The caller ID system was built on trust, allowing the originating caller to set the display number. While legitimate uses exist (such as a business displaying their main number instead of an internal extension), bad actors exploit this to mask their true identity.
Why Your Number Can Be Spoofed
Section titled “Why Your Number Can Be Spoofed”Your phone number can be spoofed by anyone, anywhere in the world, without needing access to your phone system, account, or our network. The spoofing happens entirely on the caller’s end—they simply enter your number as their outbound caller ID when placing calls through illegitimate or poorly regulated carriers.
Key points to understand:
- Your system has not been hacked or compromised
- TELAIR’s network has not been breached
- No calls were actually placed from your phone line
- You cannot directly prevent someone from spoofing your number
What You Can Do
Section titled “What You Can Do”If you’re receiving complaints about calls you didn’t make, or if you’re receiving spoofed calls yourself:
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Report it to TELAIR — Contact our support team with the call details including the date, time, and phone numbers involved. We’ll investigate which carrier the calls actually originated from and report the abuse to them for further investigation.
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File a complaint — You can also report spoofing to:
- Canada: CRTC at crtc.gc.ca or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501
- United States: FCC at fcc.gov/consumers/guides/spoofing-and-caller-id
Frequently Asked Questions
Section titled “Frequently Asked Questions”Q: Does this mean my phone system was hacked? A: No. Spoofing your caller ID does not require any access to your phone, account, or network. The spoofer simply types in your number on their end.
Q: Can I stop people from spoofing my number? A: Unfortunately, no. Since spoofing happens on the caller’s side, there’s no setting or feature that can prevent someone from displaying your number on their outbound calls.
Q: Will I be charged for calls made using my spoofed number? A: No. The calls are not actually being made from your line, so you will not incur any charges.
Q: How does TELAIR help prevent spoofed calls from reaching me? A: TELAIR participates in STIR/SHAKEN, an industry-standard framework that authenticates caller ID information, helping to identify and flag calls with spoofed numbers before they reach you.
Need Help?
Section titled “Need Help?”If you’re experiencing issues with caller ID spoofing, please contact our support team. The more details you can provide, the better we can assist in reporting the abuse to the appropriate carriers.