It really does not take long for bad things to happen when two ideas, both questionable, fly around cyberspace and find each other. Of course, the process goes faster when an individual or group decide to combine poor judgment and stupidity to cause problems. Spoofing and swatting are the two bad ideas and both are spreading to a town near you.
Spoof cards have been around for a while and were originally designed to fool friends with bogus phone calls. There are several card services available but here is how it works. You sign up for the card service on a web site and essentially buy minutes of spoof time. When you want to make a “trick” phone call, you call the card service number. You then enter the phone number that you want to call, the number that you want to have the recipient see on their caller ID, and spoof to your heart’s content. There are additional features like a voice changer and a record function. So, you could call a friend and have him see his banks telephone number and advise him that his account is overdrawn and there will be a $50 dollar fee due. But, you could also ask him to verify his account information! That is not a spoof; it is a scam and it is illegal. The really troubling part of this “service” is that you can buy up to 750 minutes of spoof time at $99 dollars. That is 12 and ½ hours! So, you either have a lot of friends, a lot of time, or you are doing something illegal.
Swatting began in California, the land of celebrities, and has spread far beyond the celebrated persons of Hollywood. The idea is that a person makes a call to police to advise them of shots fired and several gunmen at the home of _________________. Of course, the police have to respond and send police and a SWAT team to handle the situation. When they arrive, the celebrity is unaware of any problem as there was none. The caller gets a kick out of fooling everyone and does it again. So, we have emergency vehicles on the road, resources being allocated, and at the time, there may be a real emergency somewhere. Dispatchers can try and call to verify the information, but if the person is not home, they get a recorded message and more concerned.
But, with the combination of spoofing, swatting, and the use of “burner phones”, the culprit may never be found. It is really sad that technology always has a good side and a bad side. There is always someone who uses useful skills to make life difficult. The trend? More of the same but a lot closer to all of us…
Spoof cards have been around for a while and were originally designed to fool friends with bogus phone calls. There are several card services available but here is how it works. You sign up for the card service on a web site and essentially buy minutes of spoof time. When you want to make a “trick” phone call, you call the card service number. You then enter the phone number that you want to call, the number that you want to have the recipient see on their caller ID, and spoof to your heart’s content. There are additional features like a voice changer and a record function. So, you could call a friend and have him see his banks telephone number and advise him that his account is overdrawn and there will be a $50 dollar fee due. But, you could also ask him to verify his account information! That is not a spoof; it is a scam and it is illegal. The really troubling part of this “service” is that you can buy up to 750 minutes of spoof time at $99 dollars. That is 12 and ½ hours! So, you either have a lot of friends, a lot of time, or you are doing something illegal.
Swatting began in California, the land of celebrities, and has spread far beyond the celebrated persons of Hollywood. The idea is that a person makes a call to police to advise them of shots fired and several gunmen at the home of _________________. Of course, the police have to respond and send police and a SWAT team to handle the situation. When they arrive, the celebrity is unaware of any problem as there was none. The caller gets a kick out of fooling everyone and does it again. So, we have emergency vehicles on the road, resources being allocated, and at the time, there may be a real emergency somewhere. Dispatchers can try and call to verify the information, but if the person is not home, they get a recorded message and more concerned.
But, with the combination of spoofing, swatting, and the use of “burner phones”, the culprit may never be found. It is really sad that technology always has a good side and a bad side. There is always someone who uses useful skills to make life difficult. The trend? More of the same but a lot closer to all of us…
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