Taking a break from electricity and being prepared for an emergency for a week, I’m switching gears to a subject I’ve touched lightly on in the past.
While the intent of this article is not meant to be political, the current state of mind of some people in the world is, in part, the inspiration for the topic.
I recently watched a short, possibly staged, video of someone that had been pulled over and was trying to get out of a ticket by telling the officer they identified as a cat and therefore their ID was a cat collar.
The officer in the video kindly explained that cats weren’t licensed to drive and that animal control would arrive shortly to take them to the local shelter where they’d be subject to appropriate health checks and vaccines, spayed or neutered and subsequently put in the system for a human to come along and adopt, for a fee.
Aside from being entertaining, the video got me thinking about how we as humans can prove identity, particularly when we aren’t interacting face to face.
This isn’t a white paper for proof of identity solutions, but I feel there are a few things that many people may not realize related to verification of identity when talking to someone on the phone.
First, and perhaps most importantly, Caller ID can be spoofed.
In the current telephone system the information about who is calling is provided by the caller.
This means that if I have a few dollars and computer, I can download some software and place an outbound call to you pretending to be from your bank (or your mom, or the White House).
So, if a call pops up on your phone as being from “your bank” (or even “your mom”) you still need to be wary of the person on the other end of the line - ensuring you know that you’re talking to the entity you think you’re talking to before taking any actions of consequence.
Second, call blocking apps don’t always work.
There are some apps that can be downloaded that purportedly help block spam/scam phone calls (I personally don’t use any).
While these may be helpful, note that due to Caller ID spoofing, even if you were using one of these apps, someone could spoof their number and pretend to be someone in your contacts.
This means, that even if you save “your bank’s phone number” in your contacts and use an app to block spam/scam phone calls, you could still end up talking to a scammer when you answer the phone call from “your bank”.
Third, be wary of doing anything someones asks you to do over the phone, particularly when it relates to finances or sensitive information.
If your only interaction (and proof of identity) is the current interaction on the phone, how do you know the person is who they claim to be (and represents whatever organization/relationship they purport to represent)?
Think of it this way - if the president of the United States called your cell phone and asked you to do something, would you be skeptical and/or do something to verify the president’s identity before doing whatever it was you were being asked to do?
Hopefully so, and hopefully you’d take the same precautions before doing something that “Bob” from “bank security team” is telling you that you need to do.
Fourth and final (for now): when in doubt, hang up.
It might seem overly simple, but as long as you’re not in over your head with a mob of some sort, generally a prematurely disconnected call can be forgiven.
Even if the person calls you back and they are a scammer, the few seconds it takes for them to do so can be enough for you to gather your thoughts, and/or send a quick text to someone you trust to get a second opinion and/or help in your situation.
If the call is legitimate, at least you can have someone on your side (potentially via a three-way call) for if/when the phone call is reinitiated.
Hopefully you already “know these things”, but if you didn’t, now you do and you’ll almost certainly be better off for it.
And as a bonus - remember that to be successful, a scammer will need to target someone that doesn’t “know these things”, so share this with those in your life that you care about.
And as a double bonus, go search youtube for something like “scammer glitter bomb” to see (and support) folks actively taking the fight to scammers, and be entertained for a few minutes.
That’s all for now.