Caller ID useless?

[keno]

The calls from the number with the Wyoming area code began nearly a year ago and recently have attracted the attention of phone companies, police, and state and federal regulators, none of whom has been able to identify the caller from 307-459-1039.
WaPo article on plague of mysterious phone calls
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042604266.html

In this day and age, how can the originator not be traced? And what is the point of these types of calls? What salesperson really believes I’ll buy anything from someone who calls me at 3 AM?!?!:eek:

[pkbites]

@keno

In this day and age, how can the originator not be traced? And what is the point of these types of calls?

Spoofing changes the digital tone codes set out that activate caller ID displays. I don’t know if the phone company/law enforcement has any way to defeat this.

@keno

What salesperson really believes I’ll buy anything from someone who calls me at 3 AM?!?!

I wonder if the origin isn’t a foreign country, explaining why the caller had such a heavy accent. Perhaps they forgot they were on the other side of the planet when they called.