Message from the Consumers' Counsel:

Consumer Protections Help Keep Ohioans Safe

Scams tend to catch consumers off guard and potentially can be costly to resolve. Below are some of the telephone scams that have been causing consumers trouble in recent months.

Caller ID

Caller ID spoofing occurs when a scammer changes the telephone number that appears on a consumer's Caller ID display. The telephone number can be changed by using one of several services that allows a caller to mask his or her true Caller ID information. When a caller's identity is "spoofed," the consumer may be inclined to answer the telephone call since it may appear to be from someone they know or a local telephone number. Similar to other scams, once the caller has a consumer on the line, he or she may try to obtain personal information such as a social security number by claiming to be the police or a government agency. Consumers should never give out personal information over the telephone if you did not initiate the call.

Voicemail

This scam involves hackers using a consumer's voice mail to make collect calls. To tap into the voice mail, the hackers try to correctly guess the consumer's password by trying obvious combinations (for example, 1-2-3-4) or a default password that may be used if the consumer has not made up his or her own. If the hackers can tap into a voice mailbox, they change the outgoing greeting to indicate that charges for collect and third-party calls will be accepted. Then, the hackers place calls to the number in order to make international long-distance calls. To help protect against this scam, consumers should make up a unique password and change it occasionally. Also, check the outgoing voice mail message and telephone bill on a regular basis.

For more information on consumer protections, please visit the Consumer Protection or Telephone section under "Consumer Publications." The OCC posts new scams as it hears about them in the Consumer Alerts and Scams section under "Telecommunications."

 

Best regards,

Janine L. Migden-Ostrander