What's in your Caller ID?

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Have you ever received a call from someone where their Caller ID is incorrect? I do, almost every day and I bring it to their attention. I use Caller ID at all times. We screen incoming calls and those without caller ID usually get sent to Voice Mail. You know, just like email spam gets sent to the Junk Email Folder?

I have one client and their Caller ID reads NULL. I know it is them as I've never seen that type of ID before and they claim they've not configured it, baloney!

I have a co-worker who calls and their Caller ID is from someone who had that number years ago.

I have Corporate peers who call from a Corporate Office with rollover telephone numbers. Some of those numbers are still showing the Caller ID from previous owners.

As a marketer, I look for each and every opportunity to expose Brand. Caller ID is just one other method that I look at when discussing marketing strategies with clients. Some prefer to keep their Caller ID anonymous which I think is a wise decision in some instances. But, when it comes to "Business", you may want to configure your Caller ID to display correct business information.

If you are an individual working from a remote location/home base, you may or may not want to configure your Caller ID. Many won't have the options available to them for making the Caller ID changes and I believe a call to your telephone provider is required to make it happen.

Do you pay much attention to this?

What's in your Caller ID?

[Bewenched]

Yes we do as well. Specifically when we are having to verify someones billing information. Generally we leave them a message to call regarding their order which needs their billing information to be clarified.

So .. If and when they call back we grab the caller id information and use that as additional information in verifying potential fraud. ie.. it's shipping to California, but they call from a New York phone.

[jtara]

When using VOIP, caller ID is typically set by the VOIP subscriber. They can typically plug in ANY number - not just the number assigned to them by the VOIP provider. I guess it's a "feature" to allow subscribers to announce a non-VOIP callback number.

It's a well-known issue, and widely-abused by telemarketers who don't abide by the do-not-call list.

There is a separate kind of "caller ID" (ANI) that subscribers normally don't have access to. However, if you have an inbound 800 number, you normally have access to ANI. ANI can't be forged or blocked.

When a call originates with a VOIP service, you will get an ANI # that belongs to the VOIP service provider.

If you rely on caller ID to help combat fraud - don't. Use an 800 number and ANI. It won't ID all of your customers, but at least you will know to apply additional security steps when a number comes up "Vonage", etc.

Note that this will work even if you FORWARD to an 800-number. So, it's a handy trick if you are getting abusive calls that have caller-ID blocked, and you don't want to block incoming blocked calls. Forward your calls to an 800 number (readily available, and cheap), and the 800 service will ID the calls for you using ANI.

It's tricky and not sure of the legality, as the caller doesn't know that they are calling a number that will ID them even though they have blocked.