DictionaryCredit

Caller ID spoofing: what it means

Caller ID spoofing is when someone makes your phone's caller ID show a fake number, for example a government office's or a bank's, so you trust the call. Federal law prohibits sending misleading or inaccurate caller ID information for calls or text messages with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value.

In Spanish it is

Suplantación de número (caller ID spoofing)

Also written as: spoofing · spoofed call

A hand takes a leaflet out of a mailbox at an apartment building.

Verified on October 17, 2026

3 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has warned about calls that showed an immigration court's number to ask for money. Seeing an official number does not prove a call is real.

An example

Elena gets a call from a number that shows up as the immigration court. They ask for money and her Social Security number. She hangs up, gives no information and checks her case on the court's official line.

You will see it in…

Your phone's caller ID
Text messages that claim to come from the government or your bank
Scam warnings from agencies such as EOIR or the IRS

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School) · 47 U.S.C. § 227(e): prohibition on misleading or inaccurate caller identification information (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
2. U.S. Department of Justice, EOIR · EOIR Warns of Scammers Spoofing Agency Phone Number (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
3. USAGov · Imposter scams (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026