Remember when you didn’t know who was calling before you picked up the phone?

Those days are back.

In the last few years, Caller ID spoofing has  become more and more popular. Now, with sites like Spoofcard.com and Telespoof.com, it has also become simple.

And it lives in the legal Neverland of  only being illegal if used to commit a crime.  Which means that the sites offering the spoofing services will not be shut down until the law changes.

The way they work is straightforward. The user dials a toll-free number,  keys in the destination number and the Caller ID number to display.

Some services also provide voice scrambling to make the caller sound like someone of the opposite sex.

The service is being used in many illegals ways. Calls from what appears to be a  legitimate charity for donations or from  your bank asking to confirm your account information could be schemes to get your credit information.

Likewise, Caller ID is used by credit-card companies to authenticate newly issued cards. People who steal new credit cards from the mail can now make it appear to be calling from that number.

Credit Card companies are responding by using sophisticated 1-800 numbers, where the hardware can identify calls using a separate technology.

Others steal credit card numbers and then call Western Union using the spoofed phone number of the true card owners to order wire transfers they go and quickly cash out.

Although the FCC has not yet launched an investigation  or recommended any law change, most Federal and State investigative branches have cases they are working that mayeventually shut down the most unscrupulous of these services.

But for now, be aware.

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