VOIP and Scams / OAN Services / Malware
From my certifications, one of the by products I have gotten is receiving Certification Magazine in the (snail) mail. (On their site, you can register for a free subscription). Normally, when the magazine comes in, I will read through it and put it aside in a pile. In the May, 2007 issue, something stuck in my brain though. I have gone back, picked it up, read it again and again. In one article - Spam Patterns in 2006 and predictions for ‘07 - there are a few paragraphs I cannot seem to get out of my head.
The five paragraphs that are in this article that deal with VOIP basically describe two ways which VOIP can be used to infect computers with malware and to initiate scams. I found this very intriguing. So much so.. I keep reading it over and over.
It seems to be common knowledge to many that VOIP software on a computer can be used to "Spoof" the caller’s origin number. For instance, on my cell phone, I received a call from a friend. I missed the call, so I called my friend back. My friend told me that he had not called me earlier. I found that very strange, so I double checked the number that the call was made from on caller ID. Sure enough, it was his number. Later that day, he received another call from me. He called me back to ask why I had hung up when he called. Strangely enough, I had not called him - even though his caller ID showed my number.
Later, it turns out, a mutual friend was playing around with VOIP software and "Spoofed" our numbers to call each other. A trick, but a well played one!. Our friend could even set the software to dial "from" 911, the Whitehouse, or any other number he chose to use - even a fictitious number.
