Call Spoofing, Fraud and Scams: Three Steps to Protect Consumers — and Your Brand

In today's digital age, telephone scams and caller identity fraud have become increasingly prevalent, causing significant financial losses for those unlucky enough to fall victim. In fact, reports suggest nearly 70 million Americans lost approximately $40 billion to a variety of phone scams in 2022. Fraudsters often use spoofed calls as their gateway to crime — paired with convincing social engineering schemes to trick their victims into wiring money through bank payment apps like Zelle or Venmo. Things are getting even more challenging with the introduction of new AI technology like voice deepfakes. These scams and other types of phone fraud not only erode consumer trust, they harm a business’s reputation.

Stopping robocalls and call spoofing is not a simple task. It requires Communications Service Providers (CSPs), government agencies, legislators and enterprises to work together while leveraging the latest call authentication tools and technologies.

Understanding spoofed calls

Spoofed calls occur when a caller intentionally falsifies the caller ID information transmitted. While these calls are often associated with phone scams, it's important to note there are legitimate reasons for call spoofing. For instance, healthcare providers may choose to substitute an office or hospital phone number for a doctor's mobile number, ensuring privacy while still providing patients with a valid way to call back. Similarly, brands may prefer to present their official toll-free numbers to establish consistent and recognizable contact points for customers. Consequently, implementing strict rules or technology to address spoofing becomes complex due to the existence of these valid use cases.

On the other hand, brand spoofing is an illegitimate spoofing scam that can result in the most severe form of caller identity fraud. Fraudsters impersonate trusted brands — such as banks, utility companies, government agencies, insurance providers or big tech companies — with the intent of stealing personal data and using it to perpetrate financial fraud, account takeover scams or identity theft.

Spoofed calls can be a gateway to financial scams

Zelle® is a popular payment platform supported by many leading US banks, and fraudsters have found a way to use it to their advantage. Zelle scams are growing at a rapid rate, jumping more than 250% from 2020 to 2022.

A typical Zelle scam starts with a spoofed call:

A consumer receives a call. The caller ID shows it’s their bank, but it's really a scammer.

1. The scammer pretends to be a bank representative and says there’s been a fraud attempt on their account and they need to stop it.
2. The scammer asks for their account details and arranges for a passcode to be sent to the victim from the bank to ‘stop the fraud.’
3. If the scammer is given that passcode, the money the victim thinks they're protecting is actually sent via Zelle (or other payment platform) to the scammer.

While banks may be innocent bystanders in Zelle scams, their brands are at risk of being tarnished merely through association — especially when angry consumers come looking for answers. US lawmakers are also pressuring banks and their payment apps to help find a solution.

Three steps for protecting consumers and your brand

Fortunately, through a combination of regulatory actions by the FCC, compliance by communications service providers, legislation, and technological solutions progress is being made. Here are three steps that will help ensure continued progress.

Step 1: Register inbound only numbers with Do Not Originate (DNO) service.

A common tactic of fraudsters is to spoof the customer service phone number from the corporate website. This number is recognizable by the consumer, but is often only meant to receive calls from customers — not originate them. It’s a surprisingly effective ploy by bad actors, but can be defeated relatively easily by registering these numbers with a DNO service to thwart attacks.

Step 2: Sign your own calls if you’re an enterprise.

Now, enterprises can play a proactive role in ensuring call authenticity. By attaching their own identification credentials to their outbound calls using TruContact™ Spoofed Call Protection, they can enable end-to-end authentication between the enterprise and mobile operators to help protect their brands and customers against call spoofers. If a call isn’t from the business it purports to be, it’s stopped before it ever gets to the consumer.

Read the eBook: Take Control of the Call Experience: Improve Answer Rates, Increase Revenues.

Step 3: Set the stage for branded calling and a more trusted call experience

By authenticating their own calls, enterprises not only help carriers block spoofed calls, they’re also creating an environment for delivering enhanced branded call experiences to customers. With the evolution of technologies, such as Rich Call Data (RCD) and programmable voice, an enterprise can now display a company logo and even the reason for their call right on the phone display, encouraging customer trust and greater engagement.

TruContact™ Branded Call Display, an essential component of the TransUnion Trusted Call Solutions suite, enables enterprises to add brand name, logo and relevant information to the call display so recipients can easily identify and trust who’s calling. This is particularly crucial for organizations like banks, insurance companies and government agencies that frequently engage with customers over the phone and share sensitive financial information. A consistent and branded call experience not only enhances trust but also improves customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Watch the video to learn how branded calling helped the Virginia Department of Health (VDH)  improve call answer rates.

Call spoofing is a pervasive issue that undermines trust and safety in what still remains one of the most popular communication channels — the phone call. By working collaboratively, we can create a secure and trustworthy voice communication ecosystem that safeguards individuals and businesses from fraudulent activities and helps ensure seamless and reliable communications experiences for all.

Learn more about TruContact Spoofed Call Protection and Branded Call Display.