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spam calls from numbers matching the first 6 digits of my number

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ghanwani

macrumors 601
Original poster
Dec 8, 2008
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Lately I've been getting a lot of calls from numbers of the type
AAA-BBB-xxxx
where AAA is the area code of my phone, and BBB are the first 3 digits in my phone number.

These calls appear to be using spoofing because if I call back, the call goes no where.

Does this happen to you? What should I do with these calls other than ignore them? Is there some way to report them?

I am also increasingly getting concerned about my phone number getting hijacked:

My Cell Phone Number Was Stolen. It Nearly Ruined My Life

Victims of a T-Mobile scam share what it was like to have their identity stolen
money.com
 
This has been happening for years now - getting worse in the last few years. Spammers will spoof a # and just mass call #s that are near them in hopes that people pick up.

I had the privilege (?) of seeing this live one time when my PBX was hacked (someone at the company gave spammers my account info thinking it was me...) and they went through $10,000 worth of calls in less than half an hour just mass calling. Thankfully I reported this as soon as I saw it, and the company shut it down within an hour, apologizing profusely.

But yeah, this is common. I just set all calls to go to voicemail if they're unknown "Silence Unknown Callers."

Gets really hilarious (/sarcasm) when you have yourself calling. My wife had a whole day where ... she was calling herself over and over. Spammer was spoofing her number.

I know spammers have spoofed my number because every now and then I'll get voicemails from people saying they are returning my calls (I never called them).


One reason why to have 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) based on a key or an application like Microsoft Authenticator instead of your telephone.
 
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ghanwani said:
Lately I've been getting a lot of calls from numbers of the type
AAA-BBB-xxxx
where AAA is the area code of my phone, and BBB are the first 3 digits in my phone number.

These calls appear to be using spoofing because if I call back, the call goes no where.

Does this happen to you? What should I do with these calls other than ignore them? Is there some way to report them?

I am also increasingly getting concerned about my phone number getting hijacked:

My Cell Phone Number Was Stolen. It Nearly Ruined My Life

Victims of a T-Mobile scam share what it was like to have their identity stolen
money.com
Click to expand...

I have experienced this also, but about 2-3 weeks ago. But not since.
 
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BigMcGuire said:
Hey, it's an Apple forum so we just assumed you had an iPhone :p. I haven't used Android as my primary phone since the Nexus 6 days. Do y'all have a block wanted callers / or send unwanted callers to voicemail?
Click to expand...
Android 9 and up is actually great at detecting spam calls, and has all the tools you could ever want to block calls. The auto-spam detection is particularly good.
 
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BasicGreatGuy said:
Turn on “Silence Unknown Callers.”
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I want to silence unknown callers because my doctor's offices are especially notorious for either calling from various different phone numbers or, in some cases, blocking caller ID altogether.

Right now I'm just manually silencing these calls. I'm just wondering if there is more I can do to report such activity to the carrier.

timidpimpin said:
Android 9 and up is actually great at detecting spam calls, and has all the tools you could ever want to block calls. The auto-spam detection is particularly good.
Click to expand...
What does it do to those calls? Block them altogether or send to voicemail? Blocking them altogether may be a problem.
 
Last edited:
ghanwani said:
I'm not sure I want to silence unknown callers because my doctor's offices are especially notorious for either calling from various different phone numbers or, in some cases, blocking caller ID altogether.

Right now I'm just manually silencing these calls. I'm just wondering if there is more I can do to report such activity to the carrier.
Click to expand...

Back in the day we had the FCC do not call list. I think it helps reduce the spam calls you get, but I think most people's opinion of it is that it doesn't do enough. https://www.donotcall.gov

Other than that, yeah ... not really. My belief is - if it is important, they'll leave a voicemail. Most spammers don't (or they leave a 3 second silent voicemail).
 
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ghanwani said:
I'm not sure I want to silence unknown callers because my doctor's offices are especially notorious for either calling from various different phone numbers or, in some cases, blocking caller ID altogether.

Right now I'm just manually silencing these calls. I'm just wondering if there is more I can do to report such activity to the carrier.
[automerge]1601417346[/automerge]

What does it do to those calls? Block them altogether or send to voicemail? Blocking them altogether may be a problem.
Click to expand...
It will simply say "Suspected Spam" whether it's a call or a text, and auto blocks it, but also notifies you. It also gives you the option to unblock in case it was wrong, but since about 2018 it has always been right.
 
ghanwani said:
Lately I've been getting a lot of calls from numbers of the type
AAA-BBB-xxxx
where AAA is the area code of my phone, and BBB are the first 3 digits in my phone number.

These calls appear to be using spoofing because if I call back, the call goes no where.

Does this happen to you? What should I do with these calls other than ignore them? Is there some way to report them?

I am also increasingly getting concerned about my phone number getting hijacked:

My Cell Phone Number Was Stolen. It Nearly Ruined My Life

Victims of a T-Mobile scam share what it was like to have their identity stolen
money.com
Click to expand...
Very common spam approach that has been around for some time unfortunately.
 
BigMcGuire said:
Back in the day we had the FCC do not call list. I think it helps reduce the spam calls you get, but I think most people's opinion of it is that it doesn't do enough. https://www.donotcall.gov

Other than that, yeah ... not really. My belief is - if it is important, they'll leave a voicemail. Most spammers don't (or they leave a 3 second silent voicemail).
Click to expand...
Problem is most spammers are off shore, so they aren't bound by DNC. And no one will take the resources to get them unless they do something stupid like spoof as the IRS
 
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ghanwani said:
Lately I've been getting a lot of calls from numbers of the type
AAA-BBB-xxxx
where AAA is the area code of my phone, and BBB are the first 3 digits in my phone number.

These calls appear to be using spoofing because if I call back, the call goes no where.

Does this happen to you? What should I do with these calls other than ignore them? Is there some way to report them?

I am also increasingly getting concerned about my phone number getting hijacked:

My Cell Phone Number Was Stolen. It Nearly Ruined My Life

Victims of a T-Mobile scam share what it was like to have their identity stolen
money.com
Click to expand...
It's called Neighbor Spoofing and scammers have been using it for a while now (as already indicated) because they know the chances that you will answer and engage on a local call are greater than a call from Africa or some other place.

What is Neighbor Spoofing?

On a technical level it’s known as NPA-NXX spoofing, which is just a fancy way of saying an incoming call that matches the first six digits of your own phone number. Telemarketers, scammers, and...
nomorobo.zendesk.com
 
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I've had this happen a couple weeks ago. Got like three calls in one day that shared my area code and first three digits. If I answer it's silent and hangs up after a couple seconds. It stopped after I didn't answer twice.

Maybe it's just me but for a month or so now my entire phone history has been nothing but spam calls. I use Truecaller which helps against most spam numbers, but not against spoofing. Some have a static number so I can block them, but sometimes there's maybe 20 unique 1-800 numbers that call me once. Worse is when they leave a voicemail.
 
I’ve been using an app called WideProtect because I was having this exact problem. It lets you block numbers based on what they start with.
 
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Gutwrench said:
I use two phones. One is strictly private. The other is for normal use. Any unrecognized call goes to vm...even some recognizable ones.
Click to expand...
Exactly I don't like talking on the phone except my wife. Everyone else goes to VM except maybe some contacts I might answer depending on my mood.
 
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Oh yes I get these all the time. There is an app that lets you block AAA-BBB-yyyy (where you specify the AAA-BBB), but I can't remember the name. I had a bad experience with a different call blocking app.
 
MisterSavage said:
Oh yes I get these all the time. There is an app that lets you block AAA-BBB-yyyy (where you specify the AAA-BBB), but I can't remember the name. I had a bad experience with a different call blocking app.
Click to expand...
Maybe it was Call Control app? I'm using it now on Iphone and there is an option Block similar numbers which will block calls by the first six digits. I've previously used it on Android and it had the same option.
 
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