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Phone spoofing of CWRU numbers rising

There has been an increased occurrence of campus phone numbers receiving spam or solicitation calls that appear to originate from other CWRU numbers (starting with 368).

These types of calls are known as caller ID spoofing, where the caller deliberately changes the number transmitted to the recipient’s caller ID display to increase the likelihood that the call will be picked up. While it is often a legitimate business practice, its use as a marketing tool has become a legal and ethical gray area for increasingly software-based phone systems.

As a result, there is a lack of tools to authenticate legitimate use of the practice. University Technology ([U]Tech) is researching options, but currently CWRU has no validation method to indicate whether an incoming call is from a spoofed number. Until a solution is identified and enabled, users can still:

  • Register their numbers (cell, home, work) with the National Do Not Call Registry
    • Registration to this secured website will not block incoming calls (as this would be very prohibitive), but will allow users to make spam calls to their phone illegal.
    • Any number, including 216-368-xxxx numbers, can be reported as spam.
    • If the calls do not stop within 31 days after registration, each call from that number can be reported as illegal.
  • Individually block unwanted calls on their mobile phone.
    • The university is investigating this technology at a desk phone level.

For assistance with any technology product or service at Case Western Reserve University, contact the [U]Tech Service Desk at help@case.edu, 216.368.4357 or visit the [U]Tech website