# Cellphone Displays Caller No. "000"000-0000"-What's That? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404 "2013-08-28T15:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404/1 "2013-08-28T15:44:16Z")
I just got a scam call from some guy (indian accent) claiming to be from “The US Government Grants Office”. I was sure it was some kind of scam, so I asked who his boss was (click). Anyway, what is the significance of such a phone number? ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404/2 "2013-08-28T15:52:33Z")
Sounds similar to a blocked number. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404/3 "2013-08-28T16:10:54Z")
Or a spoofed one. Very common from call centers and almost trivially easy to do if you have in-house phone equipment more sophisticated than a mechanical PBX. They are at least being “honest” and not faking a CID name and number that look authentic. The next time I pick up a call that’s from “Emergency Services” or such to hear a credit-card spiel… ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404/4 "2013-08-28T16:20:02Z")
[**Caller ID Spoofing**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_ID_spoofing) (Wikipedia). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404/5 "2013-08-29T09:54:37Z")
That’s how Caller IDs with numeric displays for the phone number display that the number has been blocked. In text, it would say “Unknown Number.” Yes, it would be possible to spoof the number to be that, but there doesn’t seem to be much point when you can just block the number. Note, this would also happen if, for some reason, the call doesn’t have a number associated with it. For example, if it’s just a test ring or caused by temporary short (like from lightning). The exception is first party calls (like when you call from an extension), where the Caller ID will not engage at all. Or, at least, this has been my experience. ---
**Author:** ![londono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@londono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/londono)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404/6 "2013-08-29T10:07:19Z")
Your post reminds me of calls I’ve been getting from another strange phone number, it’s 123456789. I know that such a phone number does not exist but it’s what came up on my caller ID. I never answered them. I find them very suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![londono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@londono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/londono)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404/7 "2013-08-29T10:12:54Z")
Looks like this phone number’s a scam. It’s probably spoofed and not a valid one. Be aware that nuisance callers such as scammers can actually fake the phone number that appears on the recipient’s caller ID to hide their identity. I pulled up [http://www.callercenter.com/0000000000.html](http://www.callercenter.com/0000000000.html) along with several complaints from different people, all of them associating the call to a scam. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-displays-caller-no-000-000-0000-whats-that/667404/8 "2013-08-29T11:42:53Z")
> [@londono](#): > > Your post reminds me of calls I’ve been getting from another strange phone number, it’s 123456789. I know that such a phone number does not exist but it’s what came up on my caller ID. I never answered them. I find them very suspicious. That’s the kind of number some idiot would have on his luggage. Obvious scam. Who cares what they want? Just be glad they’re making it that obvious not to waste your time.