Topic: I think someone has spoofed my mobile phone number

[Fambo Number Mive]

Had a silent call this morning and twenty minutes or so ago had a call from someone with a similar number to mine (just the last six or so numbers different) asking who I was and claiming I had tried to call them (I didn't). From this I presume someone is spoofing my mobile number, but I presume there is nothing I can do other than changing the mobile number (which I don't really want to do).

Have you ever had your phone number spoofed? What did you do?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Calling with similar numbers is a common scam doing the rounds at the moment. It's called 'neighbour spoofing'.

https://nordvpn.com/blog/what-is-neighbor-spoofing/

Ofcom say you can call action fraud to report it but I doubt it will do any good given how the telephone networks (with things like voip) allow this to happen.

I think they do this fairly randomly and move on fast, so I wouldn't bother changing a number unless it resulted in regular hassle.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Cheers, I'll see how it goes over the next couple of weeks.

[Hat FM]

thats weird. same thing happened to me last week. only called me once. so why do they do it?

[Sebastian Cobb]

There's a school of thought people are more likely to answer withheld numbers if they're "familiar".

[Hat FM]

i'll answer any old call. exciting to get a phone call!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Not in my contacts = GET TO FUCK unless I'm expecting a call back for something specific.

[touchingcloth]

You can get call blocking apps. I use Hiya which tries to automatically screen out callers close to your own number, and I’ve got another app which I’ve set to block any numbers which share the first seven digits with my own. It’s possible to setup most phones to only accept calls from people in your contacts, too.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah I was aware of truecaller but didn't want to use that specific one because it scrapes your contacts and uploads them, and I wouldn't want my number in their database (although for all know someone has installed it and I'm now in there) so it would be hypocritical of me to use it.

[JaDanketies]

The email address I (used to) use to sign into Facebook was one that I didn't use anywhere else. My password for Facebook was similarly one that wasn't used anywhere else. I use a password manager.  Obviously the phone number I use for Facebook is one I use everywhere but I assumed my Facebook was as secure as Fort Knox.

But then I get a text message the other day giving me a code to reset my Facebook account password, and then another one. I assume it's spam / phishing / whatever and don't open it.

Log into Messenger on my phone and it tells me I've logged out and to put my password in again. Alarm bells immediately start ringing. Attempt to log into Facebook and it becomes apparent that I've been hacked a couple of minutes ago and my password has been changed.

I can't figure out how anyone could've done it unless they can either receive text messages sent to my number or they've installed a keylogger on my devices. I suppose potentially I might have been logged in on an old device that someone's gained access to?

Anyway they didn't do anything and I regained control pretty quickly but if I saw a fucking digital marketing professional had been hacked on Facebook I'd think they were an utter ludicrous n00b so I've kept relatively quiet about it for fear of damaging my brand.


...

I answer all unknown numbers because one of them could be a client. 99% of the time they are not. Today was the 1% of the time it was a client and I treated it like a spammer; answered the call, put it on loudspeaker, didn't turn off the music, didn't respond for about 15 seconds. That was also unprofessional.

[touchingcloth]

I think my mobile number got leaked in something from when I lived in Bristol, as I quite often get spam calls from Bristol numbers and the caller mentions one of the postcodes I lived at. I’ve got my call blocker to stop any 0117 numbers from contacting me because the odds of a genuine caller using a Bristol-based landline with no other means of contacting me is slim to none.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think next time I go job hunting I'm going to spin up a second number just so I can avoid giving my main number to a bunch of recruiters.

[touchingcloth]

I think next time I go job hunting I'm going to spin up a second number just so I can avoid giving my main number to a bunch of recruiters.

It’s not a bad idea. Dual SIM phone or something like a Twilio forwarder would work. Probably worth a dedicated PAYG SIM in case you ever needed to go back to the same number, I guess (e.g. if recruitment fuckers try and snarl you by requiring a mobile number for two factor and losing your number would lock you out of your Monster account).

I hate the modern world.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah I was mostly thinking of those two options.

One cheeky lad I worked with used to use Twilio to route them back to their own switchboards or other recruiters if they were getting fed up with them.

[Captain Z]

I was on the opposite end of this about 12 months ago. Got a call from a UK landline number so let it ring out then called back a bit later.

Some woman: Hello?
Me: Yes, hi, I had a missed call from you?
Her: I don't think so, not from me.
Me: Well, I've just pressed redial on the number that called me.
Her: Well I haven't made any calls.
Me: Oh.
Her: So who are you, then?
Me: Well, I don't really want to say since I don't know who you are.
Her: And in that case, I wouldn't tell you either.
Me: That's fair enough. Alright, bye then.

[Dex Sawash]

I get a call from an old woman asking for Lisa about 5x a year for a decade. I saved her as a contact "Lisa's Mom". She is lovely and I look forward to our irregular chats.

[JaDanketies]

facebook hack

Probably something to do with this. If you've got a Facebook account, your email address, phone number, etc was recently exposed.