Numbers and routing
Caller ID spoofing
Caller ID spoofing means displaying a caller number that is not your own, to mislead the recipient about where a call comes from.
Voice over IP networks technically allow any number to be displayed. The practice fuels abusive cold calling and fraud that borrows the number of a bank or a public body. In France, the law now requires operators to authenticate the caller number and to cut off calls whose number cannot be verified.
Why it matters for fax
In fax, spoofing is even easier: the identifier a fax displays is declared by the machine itself. A fax that seems to come from a court or a well-known supplier deserves checking through another channel before any action, especially if it demands payment.