It looks like the original topic was deleted. This makes sense. It copied most of the Wikipedia article. We don’t need this.
I have heard of Pranknet and them calling various hotels pretending to be from the fire alarm company tricking the clerks into setting off the fire alarm back in 2009-2011. It really just shows the problems that happen when people who know little about fire alarms start messing with them. I never would have fallen for any of that.
Certainly the manager/security personnel at a property with a fire alarm system should know some basic info about how these systems work, but just as importantly, the person who answers the phone should know not to fall for calls like this, and not to transfer suspicious calls - especially not to guests.
Here are 2 ways that the switchboard operator could respond to suspicious incoming calls:
Option 1: “I’m sorry, but we cannot discuss this matter on the phone. If you’re actually calling from [purported source], please contact us using [other more verifiable method that can’t be as easily spoofed]. This call may be traced.”
Option 2: “Nice try. Not sorry. This call may be traced.”
Option 3: Transfer the call directly to security.
Caller: “I’m calling from some pizza delivery place, can I be transferred to room 123?”
Clerk: notices that Caller ID is missing “OK, you’re being transferred.” transfers caller to security
Security: “This is security, may I help you?”
Caller: “No, the clerk must have misunderstood us. We didn’t want security, we wanted some guest’s room so we can pull some pranks on them!”
Security: “Well, sir, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Prank calls like this are not funny and we take this matter very seriously - they cause significant harm to us as well as our guests and employees. These are real people who incur the harms of immature prank calls like this. This call may be traced.”
The things that these pranksters have done go well beyond fire alarms - there’s quite a few absolutely ridiculous examples in that Wikipedia article. (e.g. they’ve tricked guests into breaking a window and throwing a TV and a mattress out!)
The pranksters usually use programs like Skype to hide their identity because it doesn’t show Caller ID.
Legitimate calls (e.g. from a pizza delivery, or a vendor/contractor) would have Caller ID.