High-tech harassment traced to pair

Imagine the terror of receiving a middle-of-the-night phone call from someone who says he's inside your house watching you - especially when the number displayed on your cell-phone caller ID is your home number.

Four Montgomery County women experienced that scenario firsthand in late April, ultimately leading to recent jail time for two people who illegally used the services of an online company called SpoofCard.

For a fee, the company, started in 2005, allows users to change what someone sees on a caller ID display when a phone call is received, according to its Web site. Users may also change their voice to male or female.

SpoofCard, which is featured in the movie Untraceable, has billed itself as a convenient way for professionals, such as doctors, to return calls from home without revealing their phone number. It also enables people to play realistic practical jokes.

Montgomery County officials are not laughing.

"The opportunity for abuse with this kind of technology is very troubling," District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said yesterday, adding that she had not "seen or heard of another case like this."

Prosecutors say the plot unfolded at a barbecue on April 29, where the two defendants - Carmen Veneziale, 30, and Danielle Zimmer, 25, both of Collegeville - first met.

Assistant District Attorney Anthony Gil, who prosecuted the case, said there Veneziale told Zimmer about SpoofCard. Zimmer gave Veneziale phone numbers and instructions for victimizing four female former coworkers, one of whom was a teenager.

Veneziale made the first call that same night, and the others within the next 24 hours, the criminal complaint said.

In one instance, Veneziale told the victim, "I like watching you sleep," the complaint said. Another victim was identified by name, and the teenage victim put her father on the phone, prompting Veneziale to respond: "I'm inside the house, watching your daughter."

Gil said the calls, made in the middle of the night, terrorized the victims, all of whom called police. He said it was fortunate that two of them lived in the same township.

Limerick Township Detective Paul Marchese connected the dots, Gil said, contacting SpoofCard after the company's number showed up in phone records that had been subpoenaed. SpoofCard then lived up to its online promise:

"Your financial, personal and call records are all confidential and are untraceable. However, if there is illegal activity and we are served with a subpoena, we will cooperate with the court."

Companies like SpoofCard sell users access to a toll-free number. After keying in a personal identification number, the caller then selects the destination number and the caller ID number to be displayed.

The SpoofCard records led to Veneziale, who then "gave up" Zimmer, Gil said. He said Veneziale was probably trying to impress Zimmer, who might have held a grudge after being dismissed from Phoenixville Hospital, where three of the victims worked.

Zimmer spent four days in prison last month, and Veneziale spent two days in jail last week, court records said. Veneziale had pleaded guilty to harassment, and Zimmer entered a plea to terroristic threats. Gil said both would be under court supervision for at least two years.