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It’s easy to access someone else’s voicemail by spoofing the caller ID. This isn’t new; what is new is that many people now have easy access to caller ID spoofing.
The spoofing only works for voicemail accounts that don’t have a password set up, but AT&T has no password as the default.
TrapCall is a new service that reveals the caller ID on anonymous or blocked calls:
TrapCall instructs new customers to reprogram their cellphones to send all rejected, missed and unanswered calls to TrapCall’s own toll-free number. If the user sees an incoming call with Caller ID blocked, he just presses the button on the phone that would normally send it to voicemail. The call invisibly loops through TelTech’s system, then back to the user’s phone, this time with the caller’s number displayed as the Caller ID.
There’s more:
In addition to the free service, branded Fly Trap, a $10-per-month upgrade called Mouse Trap provides human-created transcripts of voicemail messages, and in some cases uses text messaging to send you the name of the caller—information not normally available to wireless customers. Mouse Trap will also send you text messages with the numbers of people who call while your phone was powered off, even if they don’t leave a message.
With the $25-a-month Bear Trap upgrade, you can also automatically record your incoming calls, and get text messages with the billing name and street address of some of your callers, which TelTech says is derived from commercial databases.
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.