school17777 Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 (edited) We keep getting calls from numbers that we recognize, but the description of the number is wrong, or the number will have an extra 1 in front of it. I don’t answer the calls because I know they are spam calls, and I figure on the off chance that I was wrong and it was a real call, they would leave a voicemail. We just got a call, yes this late at night 11:15pm, from my dh’s desk phone number, but the description was “Xfinity voicemailâ€. I knew that was obviously a spam call, so I didn’t answer it. Can’t believe someone called this late. My friend supposedly called me last week (we used to carpool to preschool, so I had her number memorized), but the description was Liberty Christian, so I didn’t answer and no message was left. My real friend would have definitely left a message. (Her nephews went to Liberty and her twins visited the school to see if they would be interested in going) How do spammers get hold of real numbers to spam us with? On Sunday evening, we got a call from the area code where my ds goes to school with the name of his school and then Medical Center. That was scary for a moment, but that’s not the real name of the hospital there, so I had dh look up his location and ds was where we expected him to be. By the grace of God, ds texted me at that very moment too telling me what he was doing, confirming where he was. So, I didn’t answer it and I didn’t panic since everything happened at once and I knew ds was safe. For the above to happen, it feels like the spammers have personal info on us to use to make the calls seem believeable so we will answer. Edited March 21, 2018 by school17777 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 We keep getting calls from numbers that we recognize, but the description of the number is wrong, or the number will have an extra 1 in front of it. I don’t answer the calls because I know they are spam calls, and I figure on the off chance that I was wrong and it was a real call, they would leave a voicemail. We just got a call, yes this late at night 11:15pm, from my dh’s desk phone number, but the description was “Xfinity voicemailâ€. I knew that was obviously a spam call, so I didn’t answer it. Can’t believe someone called this late. My friend supposedly called me last week (we used to carpool to preschool, so I had her number memorized), but the description was Liberty Christian, so I didn’t answer and no message was left. My real friend would have definitely left a message. (Her nephews went to Liberty and her twins visited the school to see if they would be interested in going) How do spammers get hold of real numbers to spam us with? On Sunday evening, we got a call from the area code where my ds goes to school with the name of his school and then Medical Center. That was scary for a moment, but that’s not the real name of the hospital there, so I had dh look up his location and ds was where we expected him to be. By the grace of God, ds texted me at that very moment too telling me what he was doing, confirming where he was. So, I didn’t answer it and I didn’t panic since everything happened at once and I knew ds was safe. For the above to happen, it feels like the spammers have personal info on us to use to make the calls seem believeable so we will answer. I know. Very disturbing...or at least irritating. I took caller ID off my home phone but before I did I would get calls with my name and my cell phone number on the caller ID. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 It’s called spoofing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 From FCC https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/spoofing-and-caller-id “f you have a voice mail account with your phone service, be sure to set a password for it. Some voicemail services are preset to allow access if you call in from your own phone number. A hacker could spoof your home phone number and gain access to your voice mail if you do not set a password ... How do I report suspected spoofing? If you receive a call and you suspect caller ID information has been falsified, or you think the rules for protecting the privacy of your telephone number have been violated, you can file a complaint with the FCC (https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=39744). Recent FCC Actions on Spoofing Aug. 3, 2017 - The FCC proposed an $82 million fine against an individual who apparently made more than 21 million illegally spoofed robocalls in violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act. (Download files: News Release) June 22, 2017 - The FCC proposed a $120 million fine against an individual who apparently made almost 100 million illegally spoofed robocalls. (Download files: News Release; Citation & Order; and Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture)†Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
school17777 Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 From FCC https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/spoofing-and-caller-id “f you have a voice mail account with your phone service, be sure to set a password for it. Some voicemail services are preset to allow access if you call in from your own phone number. A hacker could spoof your home phone number and gain access to your voice mail if you do not set a password ... How do I report suspected spoofing? If you receive a call and you suspect caller ID information has been falsified, or you think the rules for protecting the privacy of your telephone number have been violated, you can file a complaint with the FCC (https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=39744). Recent FCC Actions on Spoofing Aug. 3, 2017 - The FCC proposed an $82 million fine against an individual who apparently made more than 21 million illegally spoofed robocalls in violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act. (Download files: News Release) June 22, 2017 - The FCC proposed a $120 million fine against an individual who apparently made almost 100 million illegally spoofed robocalls. (Download files: News Release; Citation & Order; and Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture)†Our voicemail is attached to our email since it’s the same provider, so they’d have to be able to log into our email account to get to our voicemail. I don’t know how to get the real information from who is calling me since the number on caller id is fake to report them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 We get a little of spoofing. I just don't answer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambam Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 My favorite is when I get a phone call from my own number. What? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 DH and I both got calls from our own cell numbers yesterday. (Right around the same time. It was really weird.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 It may be a coincidence, but I've wondered if somehow hackers are exploiting facebook apps to find numbers in your phone list. Because somehow when I have those apps installed I get 4+ per day, which trails off to one call every few weeks when I delete them. I don't like the apps because of the privacy disclosures, so we typically only have them if a relative is going to a place out of country without cell service but with internet - that way niece & nephew can still chat with their parents when they're on vacation. Since adding & deleting the apps is an annual thing, the spoofing is pretty predictable to me now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuvToRead Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 It may be a coincidence, but I've wondered if somehow hackers are exploiting facebook apps to find numbers in your phone list. Because somehow when I have those apps installed I get 4+ per day, which trails off to one call every few weeks when I delete them. I don't like the apps because of the privacy disclosures, so we typically only have them if a relative is going to a place out of country without cell service but with internet - that way niece & nephew can still chat with their parents when they're on vacation. Since adding & deleting the apps is an annual thing, the spoofing is pretty predictable to me now. The spoofing happens on basic phones too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Worst spoofing I experienced: a call from a local pastor (we knew him because he was middle dd’s basketball coach 20 years ago). The guy had passed away a year earlier. But when his name showed up on my caller ID, I just HAD to pick it up in case he had something to tell me from Heaven!! But alas, it was card services telling me there’s nothing wrong with my credit card accounts right now... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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