Caller ID Spoofing

Caller ID spoofing is a method in which a person can cause the telephone network to display a number on the recipient's caller ID display which is not the number of the originating caller. The term is commonly used to describe deceptive situations in which the caller has nefarious motives. Since caller ID spoofing can make a phone call look like it's coming from any phone number the caller wants and because people usually assume a call is actually coming from the number being displayed (and therefore, the associated person, persons, or organization), all kinds of things (both legal and illegal) can be done with such a manipulative ability.

It seems as though many of the reasons one would want caller ID spoof are unscrupulous, there are many legitimate uses too. Large companies use it for their call centers and telemarketing departments. Private investigators and bail bondsmen use it to investigate people and to locate people who have skipped out on their bonds. Individuals might want to display their home or work number when not calling from those locations, such as a small business owner calling clients from a cell phone; they may not want their cell phone number to show up on caller ID. There is a gray area in regards to using caller ID spoofing for practical joke reasons, just keep in mind that all calls are logged somewhere and they can be traced back to originating caller number and location.