Last week we discussed spoofing. Spoofing is the ability for a person making an outbound call to change the caller ID on the outgoing call so that the recipient of the call thinks it is someone else. Spoofing is used on a widespread basis by illegal telemarketing outfits whose goal it is to harass you and rip you off.
So you contacted the FCC to file a complaint. But the calls won’t quit. So you contacted your local phone company to block the calls. But there is a limit. Usually, the phone company will only block about 5 or so numbers for you. But the calls keep coming. So what do you do?
The difficult part about spoofing is that it is extremely hard to track down the culprits. There is not much the FCC or local phone company can do. So if you have a number that spoofers just seem to love, you may want to consider “virtualizing” it. You can keep your beloved phone number but put it up in the cloud by using services such as Solaxis. You can port your number to Solaxis and turn it into a voice mail. Spoofers hate voice mail. Calls can be directed to your new voice mail number and legitimate callers will leave you a message. You will be notified electronically by email or text and then you can call that person back.
There are a number of configurations that you can set up on a Solaxis hosted number. What is most important is that you prevent spoofers from reaching you. Sometimes the best way to do that is to use the cloud to protect you so that you can keep your phone numbers and not be harassed.
