What is Call Spoofing?
What is Call Spoofing?
Section titled “What is Call Spoofing?”Call spoofing is the illegal practice of falsifying the Caller ID (CID) phone number or Caller Name (CNAM) displayed to a call recipient. Scammers use spoofed numbers to appear as trusted sources — a local number, a government agency, or a major bank — to increase the likelihood that the target will answer and engage.
Telecom fraud losses in 2021 reached $30 billion in the United States and $383 million in Canada, with call spoofing being one of the leading contributing factors.1,2
Common Spoofing Techniques
Section titled “Common Spoofing Techniques”| Technique | Description |
|---|---|
| Neighbouring | Caller ID shows the first 6 digits of the recipient’s own number, appearing as a local or neighbour call |
| Mirroring | Caller ID is set to the exact number being called |
| Identity theft | Caller ID shows the number of a real person, organization, or government agency without their knowledge |
How to Recognize a Spoofed Call
Section titled “How to Recognize a Spoofed Call”- The caller gives a generic greeting instead of using your name.
- You’re asked to press a number to “continue” — a screening technique to identify responsive targets.
- The caller creates urgency, demanding immediate payment or personal information (SIN/SSN, passwords, credit cards).
- A government agency or bank calls demanding payment or threatening legal action.
How to Protect Yourself
Section titled “How to Protect Yourself”- Don’t answer unknown numbers. Let calls go to voicemail — legitimate callers leave messages.
- Verify before you trust. If a caller claims to be your bank or government, hang up and call back using the official number.
- Block the number after receiving a spoofed or fraudulent call.
- Report it — to your carrier, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, or the FTC (US).
How SIPSTACK Fights Spoofing
Section titled “How SIPSTACK Fights Spoofing”SIPSTACK’s platform uses real-time machine learning to authenticate call activity and detect suspicious patterns. Carriers using SIPSTACK can configure thresholds to block suspicious calls before they reach customers. STIR/SHAKEN call authentication is also implemented to verify caller identity at the network level.
See What is STIR/SHAKEN? to learn how call authentication works.
References
Section titled “References”1 Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre 2 First Orion 2021 Scam Call Trends