My number might be used in a phishing scam

[Itsmynumber]

Today, I received a call from a nice stranger.  Apparently, the stranger has been receiving calls from my number.  I have never called the stranger's number before in my life and my cell phone does not indicate I made any call to the stranger's number.  I told the stranger maybe my cell phone number has been used in some computer generated calling scam and the stranger can blacklist my number to not receive calls from my number anymore.  We said our good bye and wish each other well.

I also had been receiving calls from unknown numbers almost daily.  When pick up no one talks or get a voicemail that people have told me is a scam or voicemails described as scam in newspaper.  

Is there anything public mobile can do for me?  

I don't really want a new number  even though my existing number appears to be compromised.  I had my number for a long time and I lost touch with some friends so I still want to keep my number in case they ever call it. Plus it's annoying to change number associated with existing accounts and it's gonna take a while for me to remember a new number.

Please help!

[softech]

@Itsmynumber   and the Caller Display either show a V number or a number very similar to your own with only the last 4 digits different?  It is Caller ID spoofing and scamming.  Just ignore it.  It might come couple times in a week  but it will die down.

Honest, whenever I see caller display with number so like my own and I don't know the number, I usually not pick up at all.  

[Itsmynumber]

This week, when I answer I get recordings. Very annoying.  I was pissed while I was working because the default ring tone was loud and obnoxious.  I am gonna try the maximum numbers of ring and change my default ring to silent.

The recording says my social insurance number is compromised and they are gonna freeze my bank account.

[HALIMACS]

@Yummy 

If you set your voicemail for the maximum number of rings, most spam calling systems will not wait that long.

I almost NEVER get SPAM callers ; I forget the last time I actually received one it's been that long. 

[Itsmynumber]

Thanks all for replying. I could not Bravo all as I did not agree with everything that was said so I ended up not bravoing anyone at all tonight. 

My strategy now, for the past week, is to answer whenever I hear my standard phone ring tone.  For ppl that might call me, I set special ring tones for them so I can differentiate. 

Now that I think about it, i can change my standard ring tone to me saying "incoming, potential spam call".

[Community_QA]

@Itsmynumber  you are worrying too much.  They just make up phone numbers to make those calls

[Yummy]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

@Itsmynumber 

NEVER answer any calls from numbers

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I tend to slightly disagree.

If you do not answer, spam call will end up in your voice mail. So now you have to access vmail, press few numbers while saying few chosen words.

Even if you do not answer, they will get to your vmail and they will know number is active and in use.

What I would like is to have ability to enable/disable vmail so I can control when it can record messages.

[Yummy]

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@Itsmynumber wrote:

Today, I received a call from a nice stranger.

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Good for you. At least it was not duct cleaning or Canadian Border services with suspicious package in your name.

Joking aside, PM cannot and will not do anything to stop spam calls.

Few months ago I received a call from Alberta from older and very nice lady asking me (Ontario) why did I called her few times. She said she will complain to CRTC and I wished her good luck with that.

You will have to learn to live with this calls. Calling back will not help as all those numbers are randomly generated and might belong to real people.

[HALIMACS]

@Itsmynumber 

NEVER answer any calls from numbers/people you either don't recognize or are not on your contact list.  It can be difficult to ignore a call, but you will get used to it.  

If the person calling you needs you that badly, they will leave a voice message; if they don't bother leaving one, you likely didn't need to hear from them in the first place.

IF YOU DO ANSWER, and the caller is a spammer, it's likely your number will get logged as one which will get answered, so anticipate spam calling to increase (at least in the short term).

[sheytoon]

Scammers are spoofing your number. It's nothing to be concerned about. Anyone can spoof any number with a VOIP account and internet access.

This is unrelated to incoming spam calls to your number.

Just ignore it. PM/Telus can reduce incoming spam calls to some extent, but the spoofing is totally beyond their control.

[darlicious]

@Itsmynumber 

Have you noticed that the other recipients of calls from your spoofed number have the same area code and exchange? ie. (416) 875-XXXX? Often when your number is spoofed the scammers go thru the entire sequence of possible phone numbers til they move on. Eventually it will stop. You could change your voicemail greeting to inform callers of the current situation and ask that only your contacts leave a message or block incoming callers not on your contact list for a few weeks until the scammers move on.

Edit:

Or you can call forward your busy/declined forwarding option to Lenny and let him take care of these callers.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Lenny-the-Telemarketers-worst-nightmare/m...

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[0PX9O4]

@Itsmynumber 

This has happened to a lot of us recently, including myself. Obviously, if you are not involved in any criminal activity yourself, you have nothing to worry about as far as calls to others are concerned. Just make sure that you don't fall prey to any scams from calls that you receive yourself.

Even if you were to get a new number, there's always a chance this would happen with the new number as well.

Nothing much PM can do about it, unfortunately.