Why do people spoof Australian phone numbers and then not talking? What is their end game?

Lurker on 21/08/2021 - 07:30

Recently , like many people , I have been receiving mobile phone calls from phone numbers that are near my mobile phone number , e.g. the first 7 digits are the same.

When I press Answer on my mobile phone , there is no sound on the other end.

Supposedly somebody is spoofing someone else's phone number to call me.

But what do these spoofers (for lack of a better word) actually get out of it?

What is the end game here?

Besides wasting my time answering silent phone calls ?

I have read a few articles and nobody seems to be able to tell me what the end game is.

For example,

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-03/mobiles-and-landlines…

https://old.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/otqkpz/has_anyon…

https://old.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/c4im4x/beware_ca…

Please advise.

Thank you very much.

Mobile

Comments

  • bloom on 21/08/2021 - 07:32
    +12

    I thought they just verify it’s a real/active number and sell the phone list?

    • dmbminaret on 21/08/2021 - 07:37
      +16

      This is why I don't answer them. If it is important, they will leave a message…

      • EightImmortals on 21/08/2021 - 08:46
        +2

        Yep it's pretty much come to that.

      • Love a bargain on 21/08/2021 - 09:55

        I don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognise either. However, if the sole purpose of the exercise is to check if a number is active, wouldn't that be achieved by the mere fact that the call got connected rather than having to wait to see if someone picks up?

        Btw, maybe as a PSA, I would urge people not to include their names in their voicemail greetings, despite it being a common practice. Just imagine, these same people who are trying to verify your number as being active can now sell your number with your name attached - making it so much easier for the buyer to try to pull off a scam.

  • try2bhelpful on 21/08/2021 - 08:00
    +8

    Sometimes the autodiallers will ring people and then connect to a human operator when someone answers; there can be a delay whilst this happens. If you answer then hang up quickly the connection may not occur. However, as others have said, it may well be to try and determine valid phone numbers. I, also, let a lot of calls go to voicemail if I’m not sure of the number. I used to screen with a voice machine on my home phone. It is annoying I have to do it with my mobile.

  • DJR9000 on 21/08/2021 - 09:14

    this is flu-bot … really ramped up in the last 2 weeks. decline call and if it's important they'll leave a message.. usually I get the malware laden "voicemail" text shortly after.

    • Cheer on 21/08/2021 - 10:25

      If you decline the call it seems to start spamming you with more aggressive calls. I only got it to stop by actually picking it up and then was met with a silent call.

      After 2-3 times of picking up you will get another random call from an actual scammer which is not within the same call range. If at this point they fail, you are probably put on a whitelist, until then you will continue to receive calls. Enjoy.

      Furthermore, if you decline the call, you usually get a fake sms voicemail message sent. I do not have voicemail setup, so I immediately knew it was fake.

  • GordonR on 21/08/2021 - 10:04
    +3

    I’ve had a few recently - if I say anything (“hello”) then, after an audible click, a recording starts telling me that they have detected “illegal activity on my internet” and I need to press 1 to resolve the issue.

    If I say nothing, then no message is left.

    I guess they’ve worked out that they can only get a result if someone is panicking and engages with them on the spot.

    • kerfuffle on 21/08/2021 - 10:18

      I got three voicemails all with the same content along those lines this week. Happy for the Department of Home Affairs to arrest me; will make lockdown more interesting

      • pegaxs on 21/08/2021 - 10:35
        +2

        When they ask my name, I like to use “Mr. Youseff… Mr. Gohfuq Youseff.”

        • pharkurnell on 21/08/2021 - 10:56

          Heywood Jablowme is my fav.

    • try2bhelpful on 21/08/2021 - 11:41

      I was getting Chinese messages for a while. There was, apparently, some tax scam that was aimed at Chinese people a little while back.

    • tebbybabes on 21/08/2021 - 12:11
      +2

      Whenever I feel in the mood, I press 1 and sometimes, get another person. Then I launch into a tirade about whatever it was they were calling about. If it's the tax office, I start spewing that I've been trying to get in touch with them for ages and thank god someone decided to call me back. I tell them I'm still waiting for my refund that they said was coming, why hasn't it appeared yet. yadda yadda yadda. It always goes click after that. I still haven't managed to string one of them along yet.

  • Guybrush57 on 21/08/2021 - 11:42

    If an automated message tells you to press '1' to connect to somebody and you do just that, can anything bad happen?

  • penguincat on 21/08/2021 - 11:47

    Question how many numbers can a mobile phone display? If someone called you from a number that was 20 numbers long would the mobile phone report the full set of numbers? or just 10/11 etc?

    Reason why I ask when I used to have a house phone years ago.
    Phone A would say incoming call from 0751234567 yep looks local not sure why they are calling me so they can go to the answering machine.
    Phone B would say incoming call from 0751234567890123 since when are numbers 16 long? Possible the number was even longer as it ran out of space on the screen.
    So from what I could see the calls didn't really have a spoofed local number but a super long clearly fake number that some phones would only display a max of 10 digits of.
    Blocking the number did zip all because that was only part of the total number.

    Since then I have wondered are these actual spoofs or is it just software limitation on our devices call number display?

  • BobD on 22/08/2021 - 07:39

    I'm getting 2 SMS each day at the moment. They are from different mobile numbers each time. They want me to click on the URL link in the message. I keep putting on a spam block on the numbers. I'm hoping they'll give up or run out of numbers.

  • aidenh37 on 23/08/2021 - 14:44

    It's an automatic line check, so if you pick up you get added to a list which is then sold onto scammers and marketing.

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