Posted on 11/23/2024 6:55:55 PM PST by jimjohn
So I get a call from my son at about 7:30 am. He’s freaking out wondering of something happened here since (according to him) I made 2 calls at approximately 1:28 am.
He assumed something must have been wrong for me to be calling so late, but we chalked it up to an infamous ‘butt dial’.
But wait: I was pretty sure I was in bed before then, and made that pretty clear. I then after checking my phone history I said, “can you check the number that actually called you, since I have no record of it on my phone?”.
He then immediately sent me a screenshot of his early morning incoming calls – with my number listed twice. Again, there is no record of a call being made to him or anyone at that time in the morning from my phone. Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Today’s office phone system are programmable. It is possible to program a “fake” number that will show up in caller id.
That is the how. I don’t know the why.
I have received two calls on my cell phone that were from that particular cell phones number. The callers number was posted on the screen. It was my cell phones number.
I figure there are automated dialing systems which keep dialing numbers and “spoof” the callers number sequentially...so eventually, one of the generated “spoof”numbers will be mine.
It was likely a number spoofing scam call that just happened to use your number as a “calling number.” Maybe these scammers are getting more crafty in their number spoofing scam calls by running names through an AI database that can do or find social/familial associations. Basically, a commercial use for Social Network Analysis
Probably just spoofed callerid.
As for the why, I’m guessing it’s automated vetting to create lists of phone numbers to sell. I suspect the numbers are more valuable if it’s confirmed that there’s a person on the other end who tends to answer.
ghosts in the machine...
The local hospital — by local I mean almost everywhere in central PA — will call you and expect you to verify who you are before telling you why they’re calling. Someone who says she’s a nurse wants your name, address, phone number, date of birth, and the answers to some yes/no questions, and she’s calling from one of their dozens of numbers which comes up on your phone as a number only. Google it and maybe it’s connected to the hospital, but that’s still no assurance. I once got a spoof call from my attorney’s office main number.
Someone who says she’s a nurse wants your name, address, phone number, date of birth, and the answers to some yes/no questions,
Thats a quick way to get a hang up from me...if I didn’t place the original call...
Personally, I love them. I keep them on the line as long as possible.
There may be some code that would allow the spammers to spoof your exact number without having to do it manually, but what we get here is a spoof number with our area code and a familiar neighborhood (old school) prefix which makes us think it is a call from one of our neighbors. The last 4 digits are whatever.
But, not on my watch. We have a landline but the ringer is off and eventually it goes to voice mail which we do not access - ever. So they think they found us but we just don’t answer. That way they don’t update their data base to our cell numbers.
Did the call come from a landline?
In the rural area where I used to live, it wasn’t unusual for 911 dispatch to get hang ups.
When those happen the sheriff’s office sends someone out to make sure it’s not a case of domestic abuse.
In one instance when the sheriff knocked on the door, the man who answered said he didn’t have a telephone and pointed up at the telephone pole and showed there was no line connected to the residence.
If it’s being blocked, it must be by the cell provider because those few times it has happened, the number wasn’t in my block list.
We’ve gotten calls from half a dozen people in the last month or so who said they were returning a call from my law firm. We had never contacted these people.
Caller-id was great when first introduced and people didn't play so many games with it. Now, more often than not, caller-id says what the caller wants, not what is true.
When you make a phone call, the Caller ID number is inserted at the start of the data stream. All the scammer needs to do is remove the data from the call and insert whatever number they want. With the proper equipment, it’s not a big deal.
It became much easier as phone traffic converted from analog to digital.
That has been a do-able thing for at least 25 years. I worked for a while doing computer-telephony stuff, and I could set up gear back then that could present any 10 digits you wanted as the CLID (Calling Line ID). It’s just easier now, and the scammers have better software.
I’ll answer “County Morgue, Dr. Phibes speaking” if I want to have some fun.
Telemarketers/phishers spoof numbers all the time - I get phishing emails “from myself” a few times a month - ever since ATT leaked my name/SSN/Email data onto the Dark Web some months ago...
I got a call from a good friend who had died a year or so earlier. In answered, “Felix???”
It turned out it was someone who had gotten a new phone and they had assigned him my buddy’s old phone number. He had misdialed the number he meant to call.
We chatted a bit and I invited him to a men’s group at church. He came and became a regular there.
I received a call from my state licensing authority by caller ID. It was the first step of a ruse in which calls also came from FBI # in another jurisdiction. In other recently reported similar setups, the caller ID from a loved one is then returned to have an AI generated voice claim to have been on an accident or have been kidnapped. Ransoms have been paid.
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