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A couple of years ago I disconnected from Direct TV. I really miss caller ID coming up on the TV to identify a caller. I now use a laptop to feed my HDMI jack my video's. The laptop has a modem on Com 3 that is capable of caller ID. I haven't been able to find a software solution for the laptop to display a number so I can sit in my Lazyboy and see if I want to get up to answer the phone. I've downloaded a couple of programs that say they work, but I'm unable to make...

If you get a text message that looks to be from yourself, don't click on it. That's the sage advice of experts and of Verizon, which has received numerous complaints about customers getting spam text messages that seem to come from their own phone numbers. Verizon's community [customer?] forum includes a thread published on Sunday that details a recent increase in "spoof" texts informing recipients that they've paid their March bill and can get a free gift by clicking a link. "We can't block ourselves..........what's the solution Verizon?" asked one customer of the wireless giant.

I am getting a lot of spam phone calls lately, with a sprinkling of new Doctor's offices calling to confirm appointments, prescriptions etc. Most are not showing caller-ID. I used to have reasonable success using DuckDuckGo to find out if the telephone number was spam or a collection agency, but now the free "Who Is Calling Me?!" websites are all returning long ranges of telephone numbers, and/or non-specific names. Wondering if anyone here has subscribed to one or more of those online reverse directory services, and are they worth it? Thanks in advance.

On three or four occasions my cell phone number has been hijacked in someway that I have received phone calls and text messages as though it would seem from myself. Yesterday, the text message I received from myself and the image associated with the non-person who used my cellphone number to send me a text message used an image which I have saved on the cell phone. WHAT THE HECK? ANY SUGGESTIONS?

This is a very strange story. A law firm which represents Bernie Sanders supporters in a class-action lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee (and against former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz) received a call asking about the case. The caller’s voice was disguised, but when the firm checked the number on caller ID, it came up as one of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ offices. From the court filing: At 4:54 p.m. today, an individual called our law office from “305-936-5724.” See attached photo of the caller I.D.The caller refused to identify himself/herself, but asked my secretary about the Wilding et al....

Caller ID has been celebrated as a defense against unwelcome phone pitches. But it is backfiring. Telemarketers increasingly are disguising their real identities and phone numbers to provoke people to pick up the phone.

Techies - I seek a software solution that will do this: Enable my Windows PC to be a telephone/ speakerphone plugged in to the PSTN via an UTP/RJ-11 jack out the modem, NOT a VOIP ( a la Skype ) phone emulator connected to the Internet via RJ-45/TCP/IP. I recognize this involves a modem. This stuff used to be bundled freeware with PCs and has fallen out of fashion. What's out there now?

Anti-healthcare calls use Reid's number By Reid Wilson Posted: 08/12/09 04:32 PM [ET] An unknown caller on a recorded message landed in Democratic House offices throughout Wednesday with the caller ID claiming to be with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) office. The calls, which deliver an anti-healthcare and anti-spending message claiming to come from constituents, have hit several Democratic offices. But the number that shows up on the House's caller identification system shows the calls are coming from Reid's office. The tactic, known as "spoofing," enraged Reid's office. "An unidentified organization is dishonestly using Sen. Reid’s office number to...

KMBC's Jere Gish reported that is is called Caller I.D. spoofing, and it is readily available online at Web site such as SpoofCard.com and TeleSpoof.com. The Web sites allow people to chose any number they want to pop up in someone's Caller I.D. Computer hackers have been able to do this with special equipment for years. But only recently have Web sites popped up to offer it to anyone. Just log in, sign up, pay with your credit card and you're ready to go. All of this is legal. Gish reported that it is often used by debt collectors. A...

NEW YORK (March 2) - Last fall, U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy's office started getting phone calls from constituents who complained about receiving recorded phone messages that bad-mouthed Murphy. The constituents were especially upset that the messages appeared to come from the congressman's own office. At least, that's what Caller ID said. "People thought we were making the calls," Murphy said. The calls, which the Pennsylvania Republican estimated in the thousands, were apparently placed with fake Caller ID . That has been possible for a long time, but it generally required special hardware and technical savvy...

I've been having this ongoing problem with T-Mobile since February and am curious to know if any of you have had this happen. We signed up for TM in late February and have had pretty good service. However, when we call someone, someone else's name shows up on their caller id boxes!! I have contacted TM many, many times about this but they say all is correct on their end and for me to call the local phone companies and tell them this is a landline caller id issue. When I do that, of course Qwest and Cox tell me...

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A man who shares the name of Arkansas' most famous native son has endured many pranks, but none as scary as this one. Bill Clinton of North Little Rock, who is not related to the former president and Arkansas governor of the same name, was the victim of a dangerous prank late last month when another person used a computer to hack into a caller-ID system and hijack Clinton's home number. After hacking into a computer system in a process called "caller-ID spoofing," the as-yet unidentified caller made several calls to Clinton's home...

Your Caller ID feature may no longer be telling the truth. This week, a company is launching technology that will make it possible for someone to choose what appears on phones that have Caller ID, the feature for displaying identifying information about an incoming call. It could be a different phone number, or even a few words, said Jason Jepson, founder of Star38, which has developed the commercial Caller ID spoofing service. Sales of Star38 will be limited to licensed private investigators and collection agencies, Jepson said. The service will cost $20 a month plus airtime charges. The technique for...

Overdue debtors beware: You may not be able to rely on Caller I.D. to screen out those annoying bill collectors much longer. A California entrepreneur has a plan to bring the hacker technique of Caller I.D. spoofing to the business world, beginning with collection agencies and private investigators. Slated for launch next week, Star38.com would offer subscribers a simple Web interface to a Caller I.D. spoofing system that lets them appear to be calling from any number they choose. "It creates an extra avenue for them to have someone pick up the phone," says founder Jason Jepson. Caller I.D. spoofing...

Rumour of the "portable killer": an operator Nigerian calms the users An operator Nigerian of portable telephones decided Monday to attack the rumour of the "telephone killer" which has been spread in Nigeria for a few days. This rumour wants that a person dies immediately after having received a call of several identified telephone numbers. The company indexes two of them: 0802 311 1999 and 0802 222 5999. "It is a hoax... it should be been unaware of", declared the spokesman of V-mobile, the second operator of portable telephones of the country, Emeka Oparah, in an official statement. "We...

Woman traces obscene caller Friday, March 26, 2004Pittsburgh Post-Gazette HERMITAGE, Pa. -- A woman fed up with obscene phone calls tracked down the offender and cornered him as he made yet another call from a public phone booth, police said. The 26-year-old Sharpsville woman received the calls regularly on Friday and Saturday between midnight and 3 a.m., police said. The woman, whose identity was not released, had caller ID and asked the phone company to trace the number, police said. The calls were traced to a phone booth in Hermitage, about two miles away, police said. The phone company, at...

Washington-AP -- If you have Caller ID, take a look at it starting tomorrow when the phone rings -- and you'll know if a telemarketer is calling. Federal regulations requiring telemarketing firms to identify themselves kick in tomorrow. Up until now, telemarketing calls had shown up on Caller ID as "out of area." But either the name of the company trying to make a sale or the firm making the call now has to pop up -- along with a phone number customers can call to tell the company to stop calling. The new regulations are part of the...