Fake caller ID

[drchipster]

Today I got an 'interesting' incoming call. What 'interesting' about it is the caller ID shows my name and my phone number! Out of curiosity, I picked up the call. It turned out to be from a marketing person trying to sell me a solar energy system. When I questioned her why she was using my caller ID as her fake caller ID, she just danced around it without answering. I told her I definitely smelled something fishy here if she had to hide behind a fake caller ID and hang up.
1. I guess it's not that difficult to fake caller ID with VoIP.
2. It sounds weird if I add my own phone number to the personal black list. If I do that, would it cause any undesirable side effect?
Thanks,

[lbmofo]

No side effects other than your Ooma app calls to home would be blocked as well.
This doesn't happen much (scammers using your callerid) so I would just leave it as is.

[holmes4]

Most telemarketers fake caller ID. There's no point in trying to blacklist them, as they change the numbers all the time. Sometimes the numbers will look real, sometimes they are invalid (000 exchange or area code.) The name will also be faked.

Don't bother trying to engage the caller - just tell them to put you on their do-not-call list and hang up. The drones on the phone don't know about the dialer technology being used.

[Sunshine76963]

Just happened to me, too. Creepy, actually, to think that someone is using my number to spam people.

[holmes4]

They use your number to spam you. If they call someone else, they use that victim's number.