Warning over phone number ‘spoof’

British consumers are increasingly being targeted by a ‘number-spoofing’ scam in which criminal gangs fool telephones into displaying the numbers of legitimate organisations, an anti-fraud body in Britain is warning.

The con works by fraudsters cloning the telephone number of a trusted organisation such as a bank and then making that number appear on the victim’s caller ID display, according to Financial Fraud Action UK, the name under which the financial services industry co-ordinates its fraud prevention efforts.

The criminal will gain the victim’s trust by drawing their attention to the number, claiming it is proof of their identity, before trying to defraud them.