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I think my canadian number is hacked

PJu81
I'm back
I'm back

I suspect that my number is hacked since I gave away my email address & phone #.

I started getting calls shortly from random numbers. I blocked them Or ignored.

 

I wanted to kno if i could do get other masked numbers but forward when calls come to 416 XXX XXXX.

1 REPLY 1

Cawtau
Senior MVP Senior MVP
Senior MVP

Hello PJu81,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  I understand your line might be receiving an increased number of SPAM calls. However, I do not think that would mean your line was hacked.

 

  I think everyone is rather fed up about getting SPAM and SCAM calls from spoofed numbers. Unfortunately, there currently isn't much that any of the mobile providers can do to prevent them. Since the spammers/scammers use spoofed numbers, it is not possible to identify the true spammers' number. The numbers shown on caller ID do not belong to the spammers. They often belong to innocent, unsuspecting people. Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done to prevent numbers from being spoofed. Even the RCMP are not immune to being spoofed (see here and here).

 

  The spammers/scammers will tend to spoof phone numbers within their target range to make potential victims think the calls are coming from people they might know. As explained in another post, it's actually rather simple to target customers from a particular provider. All they need is to choose an area code and prefix for their chosen target and sequentially dial those numbers from 0000 to 9999. Since the calls appear to come from similar numbers,  it's called Neighbour spoofing (see here). In some instances, the spammers/scammers will use the recipients' own phone numbers to make the calls, called mirroring.

 

  The mobile providers have implemented Universal Call Blocking which is meant to block calls from malformed phone numbers. That said, I'm doubtful whether it will have much of an effect on the amount of SPAM or SCAM calls since many of them appear to have properly formed phone numbers. In addition, a new technology, STIR/SHAKEN (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited/Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens) has been adopted to further reduce the amount of nuisance calls (see here). However, any attempt to reduce those calls has its limitations. My understanding is the STIR/SHAKEN will only identify possible SPAM calls and mark the calls as suspected SPAM.

 

 Unfortunately, until the technology to unmask the true number of spammers/scammers is readily available (not simply the number shown on the caller ID), the only solution currently is to block the numbers on your phone. You should note that blocking the calls only prevents the calls from ringing your phone. It does not prevent the callers from leaving voicemail. There are (at least were) some apps which claimed to also prevent callers from leaving voicemail. They worked by answering and almost simultaneously ending the calls. While those apps do prevent calls from going to voicemail, the calls are also considered 'answered' and therefore count as airtime.

 


@PJu81 wrote:

...I wanted to kno if i could do get other masked numbers but forward when calls come to 416 XXX XXXX.


  Apologies, I don't quite undestand what you are wanting to know. Could you please clarify your request?

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers