Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 156 posts

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#51

Post by hungryforcodes »

noneeeed wrote: post #45
smeej wrote: post #16

Hoping this is something that doesn't need to be said here, but just in case: This is why you should NEVER provide personal information over the phone if you didn't initiate the call. It doesn't matter if your caller ID says it's your doctor's office or your bank or whatever. Hang up and call them back at the number you normally use to reach them, from their website or the back of your credit/debit card for example.…

Also, if you were rung on a landline, ring back on your mobile. I'm not sure if it's always the case, but I believe that a call to a landline only terminates when the caller hangs up. This certainly used to be the case. This allows scammers to ask you to hang up and call them back on the number on your card (for example), but they just mimic the dial-tone and ring, then they have another scammer answer the phone. Thi…

I haven't seen a landline in ages...

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#53

Post by srvmshr »

grendelt wrote: post #37
smeej wrote: post #16

Hoping this is something that doesn't need to be said here, but just in case: This is why you should NEVER provide personal information over the phone if you didn't initiate the call. It doesn't matter if your caller ID says it's your doctor's office or your bank or whatever. Hang up and call them back at the number you normally use to reach them, from their website or the back of your credit/debit card for example.…

This. A while ago, my wife got a call from a collections agency on my phone. They asked for her name, I asked "which one?" She said "I can only talk to ____." I said, "I understand but which one would are you looking for the older or younger?" "I can't share that information." "Then I can't put you in touch with who you're looking for if you can't tell me who you're looking for." "I can only speak with ____." I said…

The last time I received such a call, I just told them in Hindi to not to call me again, and that I knew it was an obvious fake. I could hear them muttering something in Hindi on the other end while hanging up.

The tongue-rolled accent & peculiar pronunciations / choice of words is a giveaway. A large number of these IRS & collections call originate from call centers in India.

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#54

Post by busterarm »

egberts1 wrote: post #33
encryptluks2 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

STIR/SHAKEN hasn't worked correctly or stopped robocalls like promised. Congress basically told everyone that this was the answer and would stop robocallers for good, but in reality did barely anything at all. The real solution is to label robocallers as terrorist and sanction countries with large amounts of robocalls for sponsoring terorrism. Before long, everyone will be too scared to even consider working in a rob…

And if they do not comply, to follow through with a Hellfire missile, right? /s

If someone and the coworkers on their floor are calling and scamming old people out of their retirement money, then there is no sarcasm needed here. That should be perfectly justifiable.

I'll paint the targeting laser myself.

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#55

Post by abofh »

ceejayoz wrote: post #48
grendelt wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. A while ago, my wife got a call from a collections agency on my phone. They asked for her name, I asked "which one?" She said "I can only talk to ____." I said, "I understand but which one would are you looking for the older or younger?" "I can't share that information." "Then I can't put you in touch with who you're looking for if you can't tell me who you're looking for." "I can only speak with ____." I said…

> No, that's the public portion of a social security number. It really isn't.

Indeed, the first three are dependent on the state that issued your SSN, and the next two often are sequence bits roughly correlating to when it was issued. If anything, those are the public bits

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#56

Post by alx__ »

noneeeed wrote: post #45
smeej wrote: post #16

Hoping this is something that doesn't need to be said here, but just in case: This is why you should NEVER provide personal information over the phone if you didn't initiate the call. It doesn't matter if your caller ID says it's your doctor's office or your bank or whatever. Hang up and call them back at the number you normally use to reach them, from their website or the back of your credit/debit card for example.…

Also, if you were rung on a landline, ring back on your mobile. I'm not sure if it's always the case, but I believe that a call to a landline only terminates when the caller hangs up. This certainly used to be the case. This allows scammers to ask you to hang up and call them back on the number on your card (for example), but they just mimic the dial-tone and ring, then they have another scammer answer the phone. Thi…

Ah yeah I remember that trick. If you didn't hang up after talking to a friend, you'd could "haunt the line". Works best if someone is waiting to use the only phone in the house. Which is a phrase you don't hear that often :D

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#57

Post by abofh »

bombcar wrote: post #12

This is why I like having my number from where I lived in 2005 (see https://xkcd.com/1129/ ) - any calls from "my area code" are automatically spam unless it is a particular number I know.

Ported my "2005" number to a voip carrier, and have an automated lookup - not in my known caller list? Straight to voicemail. Known caller? Forward to my direct number with a known caller ID, otherwise muted.

I should not have to put this much effort into not being contacted, but otoh, it saves me quite a bit since dropping the US cell line.

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#58

Post by jmholla »

pxx wrote: post #44
skyde wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would it be possible to tell my carrier to simply block all call that are not (STIR/SHAKEN)? If all my friend are on carrier that support it, I am not interested in receiving call from people that are not on a carrier that support it.

You can do this in software on your phone (assuming Android).

How does one do that? Do I need another app? I don't see a setting for this in my Android settings.

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#59

Post by awinter-py »

seriously, never pick up the phone unless you know the caller. every stranger who calls you is trying to waste your time in some way

even 'legit' businesses that call you from random numbers are basically a spam channel / are training you to get phished -- for example health insurance and credit card. every time I call back on their official # to ask what they want, it's 10-20 minutes to figure out what they wanted (if they even know!)

we somehow aren't a society that can legislate to prevent spammers from using the phones. at this point let's pivot and punish legit businesses who use the phones to waste my time

Re: Ask HN: How can scam callers fake a mobile phone number?

#60

Post by TACIXAT »

It is actually incredibly easy! If you are using a voip line, it is just a configurable field in the UI. You can do it with any voip phone app (e.g. [1]) and a voip provider (e.g. [2]). I have an old archived video showing it here [3]. It is not so interesting though, just me poking around in a voip provider's UI.

To address the other question about phone providers verifying stuff. SHAKEN/STIR [4] protocols are supposed to address this, but I think the telcos are still in ramp up time.

1. https://www.zoiper.com/

2. https://voip.ms

3. https://odysee.com/@cybering:1/spoofing-call-id-using-voip:2...

4. https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication#:~:text=STIR%2FSHAKE....

Post reply on HN