It’s increasingly difficult to do anything on your phone nowadays without sharing your geolocation information. Certain Snapchat filters, Facebook status updates.

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PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. - Scammers are getting increasingly sophisticated and all of us can fall victim to their sneaky tactics. That's why Call Christina is here, to help spot scam trends and arm you with information to catch the red flags before you fall victim.

Call Christina team member Zoe Haugen said a con artist tricked her into revealing personal information over the phone by 'spoofing' her cell phone number.

'A few weeks ago an unknown person disguised their phone number as mine and called me claiming to be my cellphone provider and asked for my Social Security number,' Haugen said. 'I gave my Social Security number to this unknown person, who I now know was scamming me, and did as much as I could to protect myself afterwards. From that point on I have been on high alert for identity theft. I learned from my experience as a victim of this type of scam that I am not alone, and that there are valuable lessons about personal information security I gained from this experience that anyone could benefit from.'

Call Christina Community: A team member's experience with a phone scam:

By working together and sharing our stories, we can look out for each other. Here is Call Christina team member Zoe Haugen's experience with a phone scam:

'I was eating lunch and received a call on my cellphone from my own phone number. I was confused when I answered the call.

On the other line, I heard a professional, eloquent and urgent voice. A man told me he was calling from AT&T. He warned me that there was a suspected security threat to my account and if I didn't verify my social security number they would shut down my cellphone service.

I panicked. I started reciting my Social Security number frantically and quietly so that no one else would hear it and try to scam me. But as I gave it to him I started thinking, is this a scam?

By that point it was too late and he hung up. That's when I realized I couldn't call back (because) my phone number appeared on the caller ID.

I called my cellphone provider to ask if the mysterious call was from them. It was not. I didn't know what the scammer intended to do with my Social Security number, but was well aware of the frightening possibilities.

My first reaction was to check my bank accounts for unusual activity. I called the credit card companies I have accounts with and spoke to their identity theft specialists. I did as I was advised in order to secure my accounts.

On the phone with Wells Fargo, I discovered these bankers have dealt with situations like mine before and are trained to handle them.'

'Customers will get a phone call from what they think is their banking or financial institution pretending to update files and will ask for account numbers,' said Chris Catania, Wells Fargo's customer experience leader. 'But when it comes to your Social Security number, you have to take things a little further. Still let your banking institutions know, but also call one of the three major credit bureaus and file a report with law enforcement.'

Haugen said she found out more about how to protect herself from Call Christina's segments and the Federal Trade Commission's identity theft web page.

Related link: Preventing identity theft, what to do if you've been victimized

As Call Christina has reported, Florida holds the country's top spot for ID theft; a complaint category that for the past 15 years has led the FTC's list of complaints.

Hackers can wreak havoc.

'It's a big problem and there's a whole world of victims out there that may not even know it,' consumer protection attorney Jason Weaver said. 'It can devastate your credit score immediately.'

But there's things Weaver said you can do to protect yourself: Monitor your credit and get a copy of your credit report every year. It's free.

'Consumers who are victims of identity theft have to remember that they have got a two part problem. The first is their credit and getting it off their credit report. And the second is contacting these people who say the consumer owes them money. You need to tell them this isn't my debt,' Weaver said.

Video: Consumer protection attorney Jason Weaver discusses everything you need to know if you've been a victim of identity theft and how you can prevent identity theft.

Haugen has since gotten a free credit report and placed a credit freeze.

Related link:How to monitor and fix your credit score.

The Department of Justice identity theft web page also has helpful resources and suggestions, including contact information for the Social Security Administration and the fraud units of the three principal credit reporting companies.

'I assumed that the scammer disguised their phone number as mine, but also considered the possibility that the scammer may have hacked my cellphone in order to call me from my phone number, so I called the company that designed my phone,' Haugen said.

A representative walked me through the process of erasing my phone and restoring it from a recent backup, which they recommended I do in case the scammer hacked my phone.

Finally, I changed the passwords to online accounts I have that contain anything confidential.

After hours of phone calls and research, I did not find any evidence that the scammer tried to use my personal information fraudulently. However, in the back of my mind I knew they could act at any time even if they haven't yet.'

The growing issue of phone scamming

'What happened to me, or the practice of calling someone with a fake caller ID is called caller ID spoofing, and scammers can use any phone number they want, whether it is a government agency, a police department, a business, a bank, a person you trust, or even as in my case, your own phone number.

As Local 10 News investigative reporter Christina Vazquez reported back in 2015, con artists regularly use Caller ID Spoofing in the on-going IRS Imposter Phone Scam. Caller ID Spoofing is a trick to make callers think that the identification device is displaying a call from the IRS. They are also using IRS titles and fake badge numbers to appear legitimate. Just last month Call Christina reminded you to protect yourself from spoofing by never calling back the number that called you. Instead, call the IRS directly if you have a question.'

Related link: Call Christina Hotline flooded with reports of IRS imposters

It is no longer safe to use caller ID to determine which calls to answer or avoid, and it is close to impossible to tell whether a caller ID is real before accepting a call.

'It's becoming more and more common,' said Renee Thompson, the Florida Bankers Association director of communications. 'People are looking for a way to quickly gain access to people's information, and one of the easiest and quickest ways is for people to give it to them themselves.'

People have also called Christina about similar phone scams.

'They told her they would come by her house and cease her bank account, her home and (get her) driver's license suspended and (she would) go to jail if she doesn't come up with $10,000,' said Catherine Fleming, who recently Called Christina about an IRS impersonator that calls her 84 year-old mother everyday, demanding money.

'They almost made her have a heart attack. She keeps asking me, 'Are you sure it's not the IRS?' Fleming said.

On June 22, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission released rules to protect consumers against caller ID spoofing as they were directed to under the Truth in Caller ID Act.

The FTC amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule took effect on June 13 that grants consumers protections under the Rule by limiting telemarketers so that you can identify and report any newly illegal phone activity to the FTC.

According to the FTC the amended rule includes:

• limits on when telemarketers can call and what they must tell you
• limits on 'hang-up' calls and rules about transmitting caller ID
• limits on robocalls
• the National Do Not Call Registry

Action you can take

The FCC recommends consumers take these precautions to avoid becoming a victim to caller ID spoofing:

• Don't give out personal information in response to an incoming call. Identity thieves are clever - they often pose as representatives of banks, credit card companies, creditors, or government agencies to get people to reveal their account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother's maiden names, passwords and other identifying information.
• If you get an inquiry from a company or government agency seeking personal information, don't provide it. Instead, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company or agency’s website to find out if they actually need the information requested in the call you received.

The FTC offers useful advice about keeping your personal information, Social Security number and devices secure. They suggest consumers take these tips into consideration:

• If you get a strange call from the government, hang up. If you want to check it out, visit the official (.gov) website for contact information. Government employees won’t call out of the blue to demand money or account information.
• Don't give out or confirm your personal or financial information to someone who calls.
• Feeling pressured to act immediately? Hang up. That's a sure sign of a scam.

The FBI provides statements you can listen for in order to detect telemarketing fraud:

• 'You must act 'now' or the offer won't be good.'
• 'You've won a 'free' gift, vacation, or prize.' But you have to pay for 'postage and handling' or other charges.
• 'You must send money, give a credit card or bank account number, or have a check picked up by courier.' You may hear this before you have had a chance to consider the offer carefully.
• 'You don't need to check out the company with anyone.' The callers say you do not need to speak to anyone including your family, lawyer, accountant, local Better Business Bureau, or consumer protection agency.
• 'You don't need any written information about the company or their references.'
• 'You can't afford to miss this 'high-profit, no-risk' offer.'

Taking action should help reduce your risk of being phone scammed. Remember that these suggestions do not guarantee full protection, so it is important always be alert for these attacks.

- Call Christina team member Zoe Haugen contributed to this report.

Copyright 2016 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.

TamaquaArea.com was made aware of a few local phone scam incidents today (Monday, June 16, 2014) involving scammers falsifying caller ID information to reflect local numbers. In the known Tamaqua incidents, scammers used caller ID numbers (570) 668-1234, 668-1111, 668-1000 and 668-5500. In two of the incidents, the caller identified themselves as from “consumer credit services”.
Spoofing, also called phishing, is where someone falsifies a number on the caller ID of the person receiving the call. Sadly, anyone, no matter where they live, can use a smart phone or internet program to falsify their caller ID information.

Below is information from the FCC.gov website.

WHAT IS SPOOFING AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO CALLER ID SCAMS

Caller Identification, or “Caller ID,” allows you to identify a caller before you answer your telephone. It is sometimes offered as an optional service by landline and wireless telephone companies, and may cost an additional monthly fee (fees vary by phone company). A caller’s number and/or name are displayed on your phone (if your phone has this feature). It is also possible to buy an external display unit, and some phone and cable companies that provide phone service even offer widgets that allow you to see caller ID displayed on your TV or computer screen.

Caller ID service, however, is susceptible to fraud. Using a practice known as “caller ID spoofing,” callers can deliberately falsify the telephone number and/or name relayed as the Caller ID information to disguise the identity of the calling party. For example, identity thieves who want to collect sensitive information such as your bank account or other financial account numbers, your social security number, your date of birth or your mother’s maiden name, sometimes use caller ID spoofing to make it appear as though they are calling from your bank, credit card company, or even a government agency.

Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009
The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, which was signed into law Dec. 22, 2010, prohibits caller ID spoofing for the purposes of defrauding or otherwise causing harm. In June 2010, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules implementing the Truth in Caller ID Act.

FCC Rules
•Prohibit any person or entity from transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller ID information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.
•Subject violators to a penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the rules.
•Exempt authorized activities by law enforcement agencies and situations where courts have authorized caller ID manipulation to occur.

Tips for Consumers
•Don’t give out personal information in response to an incoming call. Identity thieves are clever – they often pose as representatives of banks, credit card companies, creditors, or government agencies to get people to reveal their account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother’s maiden names, passwords and other identifying information.
•If you get an inquiry from a company or government agency seeking personal information, don’t provide it. Instead, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company’s or government agency’s website to find out if the entity that supposedly called you actually needs the requested information from you.
•Please let the FCC know about ID spoofers by calling 1-888-CALL-FCC or filing a complaint at www.fcc.gov/complaints.

FCC Caller ID Rules for Telemarketers
Even before passage of the Truth in Caller ID Act, FCC rules required telemarketers to pass accurate caller ID information. FCC rules specifically require that a telemarketer:
•Transmit or display its telephone number or the telephone number of the seller on whose behalf the telemarketer is calling, and, if possible, its name or the name and telephone number of the company for which it is selling products or services.
•Display a telephone number that you can call during regular business hours to ask to no longer be called. This rule applies even to companies that already have an established business relationship with you.
For violations of these rules, the FCC can seek a monetary fine. If the violator is not an FCC licensee, the FCC must first issue a warning and the telemarketer may be fined only for violations committed after the warning.

Rules for Blocking and Unblocking Your Telephone Number
The FCC’s Caller ID rules protect the privacy of the person calling by requiring telephone companies to make available free, simple and uniform per-line blocking and unblocking procedures. These rules give you the choice of delivering or blocking your telephone number for any interstate (between states) call you make. (The FCC does not regulate blocking and unblocking of intrastate calls.)
•Per-call blocking – To block your phone number and name from appearing on a recipient’s Caller ID unit on a single phone call, dial *67 before dialing the phone number. Your number will not be sent to the other party. You must redial *67 each time you place a new call.
•Per-line blocking – Some states allow customers to select per-line blocking. With this option, your telephone number will be blocked for every call you make on a specific line – unless you use the per-line unblocking option. If you use per-line blocking and want your number to be transmitted to the called party, dial *82 before you dial the number you are calling. You must re-dial *82 each time you place a call.
•Blocking Your Name – Some Caller ID services also transmit the name of the calling party. If you request that your phone number be concealed, FCC rules require that a telephone company also conceal your name.
•800 number/toll free calls – When you dial a toll free number the party you call is able to identify your telephone number using a telephone network technology called Automatic Number Identification (ANI). Requesting that your caller ID be blocked when you call 800, 888, 877, 866, and 855 numbers may not prevent the people who answer such calls from seeing your phone number and name. FCC rules, however, prevent parties that are assigned toll free numbers from reusing or selling the telephone numbers identified through ANI without the subscriber’s consent.
•Emergency Calls – Telephone companies may transmit numbers of subscribers requesting privacy if the call is to a public agency’s emergency telephone line or in conjunction with 911 or poison control services.

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Blocking Tips for Consumers
Look before you dial:
•To block your telephone number for any call, dial *67 before dialing the telephone number. • To unblock your number for any call (if you have a blocked line), dial *82 before dialing the telephone number.

Filing a Complaint
If you have caller ID and receive a call from a telemarketer without the required caller ID information, if you suspect that Caller ID information has been falsified, or you think the rules for protecting the privacy of your telephone number have been violated, you can file a complaint with the FCC. There is no charge for filing a complaint. You can file your complaint using an online complaint form. You can also file your complaint with the FCC’s Consumer Center by calling 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice or 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322) TTY; faxing 1-866-418-0232; or writing to:

Federal Communications Commission
Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554

What to Include in Your Complaint
The best way to provide all the information the FCC needs to process your complaint is to thoroughly complete the online complaint form. When you open the online complaint form, you will be asked a series of questions that will take you to the particular section of the form you need to complete. If you do not use the online complaint form, your complaint, at a minimum, should indicate:
•your name, address, email address and phone number where you can be reached;
•the names and phone numbers of any companies involved with your complaint;
•the type of service that you are complaining about;
•the telephone number or account number for any service you are complaining about;
•the date of any bill you are complaining about, the amount of the disputed charges, and the amount of any refund you have received;
•a brief description of the event or action you are complaining about; and
•the resolution you are seeking, such as a credit or refund or a clearer explanation of the charge(s).

For information about other communications issues, visit the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau website, or contact the FCC’s Consumer Center by calling 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice or 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322) TTY; faxing 1-866-418-0232; or writing to the address listed above.

FCC Links:
Click HERE to file a public comment.
Click HERE to file a consumer complaint.
Click HERE to join a discussion group.

ABOUT IC3

The IC3 was established as a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to receive Internet related criminal complaints and to further research, develop, and refer the criminal complaints to federal, state, local, or international law enforcement and/or regulatory agencies for any investigation they deem to be appropriate. The IC3 was intended, and continues to emphasize, serving the broader law enforcement community to include federal, as well as state, local, and international agencies, which are combating Internet crime and, in many cases, participating in Cyber Crime Task Forces.
Since its inception, the IC3 has received complaints crossing the spectrum of cyber crime matters, to include online fraud in its many forms including Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) matters, Computer Intrusions (hacking), Economic Espionage (Theft of Trade Secrets), Online Extortion, International Money Laundering, Identity Theft, and a growing list of Internet facilitated crimes. Since June 2000, it has become increasingly evident that, regardless of the label placed on a cyber crime matter, the potential for it to overlap with another referred matter is substantial. Therefore, the IC3, formerly known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (Internet Fraud Complaint Center), was renamed in October 2003 to better reflect the broad character of such matters having an Internet, or cyber, nexus referred to the IC3, and to minimize the need for one to distinguish “Internet Fraud” from other potentially overlapping cyber crimes.

IC3 Mission Statement
The IC3’s mission is to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local, and international level, the IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.
Significant and supplemental to partnering with law enforcement and regulatory agencies, it will remain a priority objective of the IC3 to establish effective alliances with industry. Such alliances will enable the IC3 to leverage both intelligence and subject matter expert resources, pivotal in identifying and in crafting an aggressive, proactive approach to combating cyber crime.
Click HERE to file a complaint with ICS.