Q: I’ve been getting return calls on my cell from people I’ve never called. Someone else’s name and my cell number appeared on their caller ID, but I’ve never called them. Is someone tapping into my phone, using my minutes? — Jennifer Rutkowski
A: What you describe is known as phone “spoofing,” an industry phrase for when caller ID displays a name and/or phone number different than where it is actually originating.
It’s an illegal practice if your number is on the national or state Do Not Call Registry and a caller spoofs you. But it’s legal for everyone else.
There are measures before Congress that would make spoofing illegal for calls made to all telephone numbers, but only if the spoofer is intending to defraud or cause harm.
There are websites and services dedicated to spoofing that use reasons such as privacy to legitimize it.
But your experience has the folks at Sprint, your cellphone carrier, puzzled since it also sounds like the old crime of phone cloning, where cell users had their numbers snatched, literally, from midair. Technology was used to capture a phone call, then clone the number onto another phone, allowing the thief to use the stolen number free of charge — though your bill would reflect the use.
But that tactic occurred in the old days of analog phone service and nearly all of them are digital today, so it’s unlikely.
David Migoya wants to get the answers to your consumer questions. E-mail consumertips @denverpost.com or write to Consumer Shopping Bag, The Denver Post, 101 W. Colfax Ave. Suite 600, Denver, CO 80202.
