Probably, it has already happened to you as well. Your phone rings, you look at a display, and you can’t believe your own eyes. Since the person who’s calling appears to be you.
No, this is not another “your future self is calling to instruct you which shoes you should be wearing today” scenario. This is just a scam. And a well elaborated one.
According to experts, the more another person looks like us, the more trustworthy they seem to be. Which can be applied not only to person’s face, but also to their name or even a phone number.
Spammers know that. And they use it against us – with the so called spoofing, a tactic of changing their phone number to look like yours. So they trick you into answering the phone before you even can say “blueberry pie”.
How does the number spoofing work?
In the past, phone hackers trying to mask a phone number behind someone else’s used so called “orange boxes”, a fairly complex hardware. Nowadays it’s much easier. Literally anybody can use simple solutions like a mobile app, which allows users to mask their real phone number (and help them pretend to be somebody else).
Call spoofing. Is it even legal?
And now for the surprising part. This so called spoofing isn’t necessarily illegal. It’s because there are situation in which the spoofing is not only acceptable, but also necessary. (For example, it’s often used when communicating with victims of domestic violence who are seeking for help.)
Avoid call spoofing with the Should I Answer app
Scammers are tricky. And it’s hard to keep pace with them. However, there is something you can rely on – almost everytime they’re using number spoofing tactics, they’re faking your own number. And you can use it against them. Here’s how.
- Get the Should I Answer app.
- Go to app’s Settings.
- Go to Blocked numbers and enter first six digits of your phone number.
- Done 🙂
Get the PROTECTION AGAINST SCAM for free (Android)