A registered item He warns you that a contractual modification is about to take place and invites you to press a button to indicate what your manager is. From then on one follow one another chain of steps: a first fictitious operator alerts you on an alleged imminent problem on your telephone line using the name of a legitimate company, a second talks to you in the name of a phantom ministerial service in defense of consumers and a third recalls you to “finalize” a new offer: in reality, what has just been activated, is an unquestioned, potentially binding subscription. The one we have just described is the scam of disguised calls that are worth the contract. It is based on a technique called CLI Spoofing (Calling Line Identification Spoofing), which consists in the manipulation of the telephone number, so that appears reliablethus inducing those who receive the call to answer. The damage is not only contractual: during the call you could unknowingly provide personal data which are subsequently resold or used to perpetrate others Telephone fraud. How exactly does the scam works and what are the key steps in which it happens? How can we defend ourselves from such telephone scams?
How the scam of disguised calls works
It all starts with one call apparently harmless: a Italian numbernot saved in the address book but not even suspicion. This is precisely the strength of CLI Spoofing: a computer system manipulates the visible number in the call phase, making that of a real operator or a known and reliable service appear. In this way, scammers mask themselves from legitimate interlocutors, exploiting the trust that is normally reserved for certain numbers or entities. It is a well -studied deceptive strategy, which aims to evade your first level of defense: distrust.
After replying, you are faced with a recorded voice that informs you of an alleged “Imminent contractual remodulation”. The invitation that is addressed to you at this point is to press a key for Select your telephone operator. This is the first step to make you feel involved in something authentic. Once the number corresponding to your real manager is selected, the call is transferred to a human “operator”: the latter will talk to you about hypothetical imminent disservices and proposes to join a new contract to avoid them. The tone is caring, professional and calibrated to generate a sense of urgency and necessity.
At this point a second figure enters the scene, which presents itself as a representative of a non -existent “Ministerial consumer protection service”. Its task is to strengthen the credibility of the phone call received previously and, at that moment, it asks you if you are available to a reconstruction. If you accept, here comes the third operator, which this time acts apparently regularly, but founds its intervention on information collected illegally. It offers you theactivation of a new telephone contract And, within a few minutes, you could find yourself linked to an operator who in fact have not consciously chosen.
This scheme fits into a wider and more articulated model, which also includes the so -called system of Lead Generation. This term indicates the collection of contacts potentially interested in certain products or services. In a legal scenario, the leads are obtained with the user’s informed consent. In this case, however, the collection takes place with fraudulent means, and those data – including telephone numberpreferences and sometimes too banking information – They are then resold to Teleselling companieswhich complete the scam with the signature of a contract. Technically, even if the origin of the contact is spoiled, the contract could be valid.
How to defend themselves from the scam of disguised calls
We come, now, to How to defend yourself from the scam. Let’s say immediately that answering unknown calls is not always dangerous, but it is fundamental pay attention to each message that invites you to press keys or to provide data. Never trust operators who quote sudden urgencies or generic technical problems. In addition, evaluate the possibility of activating call identification tools and use applications for blocking suspicious numbers. In case of doubt, do not be afraid to close the call and contact your operator directly through the official channels made available to you to understand how things are.
