How to Know if Someone Is Using My Phone Number

About a year ago, I realized someone had been actively using my phone number. Initially, I received random texts and calls from unknown numbers, asking me who I was and why I called. My first thought was, “Is this number a scammer?”

But I did not pay much heed to it. I checked my call activity a few times to ensure it wasn’t some error. However, I only found the calls from my phone. So, I let go of it as a mistake.

However, in only a few days, the frequency of these calls and messages aggravated so much that I became too flustered about what was happening. The simple “why did you call my number” messages had now adopted a harsh and furious tone, giving warnings not to call the number again or else they would report me. I knew the matter was getting out of hand and required some sinister attention.

Finding Out How Someone Is Using My Phone Number

I contacted my telephone operators, and after profoundly examining the matter, I learned that some telemarketing company or an answering service or call center had been using my number. It turns out that the company had been using my phone number to make local calls.

I wondered why they were using my phone number. As I investigated my problem, I discovered that my phone number is being spoofed! To my surprise, I found this is quite a common practice adopted by telemarketers.

When they call from a local number or the largest city you know, people are more likely to respond when they see local area codes on their screens. At the same time, most of us will likely ignore calls from a UAN or out-of-state number if they don’t concern us. Of course, answering a Northeastern Pennsylvania area code call when you’re from Southern California will incur long-distance charges.

If you’ve been a victim of a similar situation and someone has been using your phone number to scam your contacts or other people, read through to find out all you need to know about spoofing and how to tackle this issue.

What Is Spoofing?

Phone spoofing or spam calls are a common strategy used to deceive recipients into accepting calls from people fraudulently. The outgoing caller ID number is faked to display a number that isn’t the caller’s. Instead of using the actual phone number, the caller uses another number. This makes it appear that the call is from a different number. There is a high probability that this spoofed number belongs to an individual or comes from a business number.

Why Does Spoofing Happen?

Spoofing a business phone number or text message is not a complex job. Whether it is correct or not tends to be a different concern. However, several GPS spoofing or caller ID spoofing apps and people provide these services. With only some basic information and a VOIP service, you can copy a number and start calling in minutes.

But why is a spoofing attack made? There can be multiple reasons for number spoofing. The caller might want to pull a simple prank, or the telemarketers might disguise their phone numbers to convince people to buy their products or services.

Sometimes it might be a meticulously planned scam to derive personal information from the recipients by spoofing the numbers of banks or government agencies. Altering their cell phone number lets the caller conceal their actual identity.

Sometimes, investigation and crime agencies might also falsify the name and number. This is to make spoof calls to search for relevant people and hide their identities. Work professionals also actively use spoofing, especially when traveling or using their personal rather than work numbers.

Someone Is Using My Phone Number—Legal or Not?

Well, it varies with the circumstances. Any type of spoofing is legal as long as it is not meant to cause harm or wrongfully obtain information from anyone. If someone traveling abroad needs to make a professional call, they might use the company number instead of their number. Similarly, some companies prefer to display a single toll-free service line. This is instead of using the many numbers to make calls to customers around.

However, spoofing becomes illegal when the caller uses a phone number to make contract-tracing scam calls, transmit misleading, or make inaccurate calls by giving incorrect information. Also, obtaining harming, defrauding caller identification from the recipient; harming, defrauding, causing harm; or wrongfully obtaining personal or valuable information from the recipients is considered illegal.

The United States of America, under the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, has imposed a penalty of $10,000 on spoof callers who do not abide by the conditions of spoofing. In essence, the Caller ID Act is one way the US government looks to protect victims of fraudulent calls from spoofing.

What to Do if Someone Is Using My Phone Number?

Unfortunately, despite how easy it is to spoof anyone’s number, it is nearly impossible to trace and detect who has been using your number. You can try to use Google phone number lookup free apps to find people online or perform a reverse phone lookup and see if you get any hits. However, the spoofing numbers are randomly selected, so you can’t take extra precautionary measures to prevent your number from becoming a target.

Since you cannot trace who’s been using your number, you must search for other alternatives to protect it. Below are four tips that might help protect your number from spoofing:

1. Change Your Number

The only real solution to address this issue immediately is to change your number. It might sound easy on paper. For instance, for Straight Talk subscribers, changing their Straight Talk phone number might seem like a phone call away. However, when you have to go through it, you realize how big of a hassle it is to switch your number.

Imagine changing a phone number you’d been using for years of affiliation. This is with much of your data that hundreds of your contacts use to connect with you. It is a nightmare!

2. Record a Voicemail

You might be in a state of disarray with the unlimited incoming calls and texts. There is a high probability that you might want to smash your phone the next time it buzzes a new notification.

Regardless, It’s essential to deal with this nuisance while letting the callers know about your actual situation. The ideal solution is to record a voicemail message explaining what’s happening.

You can try along these lines: “If you’re calling back in response to a call or message received from this number, please note that I am a victim of phone number spoofing, and my phone number is in the hands of telemarketers or scammers who are using it without my permission. I’m sorry for the inconvenience to you. However, for the sake of your security, please block this number and do not accept any calls from this number.”

Use a polite yet stern tone to convey your message. Automatically redirecting the voicemail, the people will become aware of the situation and block your number. Gradually, you’ll notice a reduction in the number of random calls and messages from people who are bothering your or are bothered by your number. Not only this, but your contacts blocking your number would make it less valuable for scammers or telemarketers. Eventually, they’ll stop using your phone number as they get blocked by many people.

3. Use an App to Filter Calls

At this stage, you may not be able to take more calls. Using apps like Should I Answer or Truecaller, you can choose to filter and block all the unknown calls and messages that are not in your phonebook. Relieve yourself from the agony by activating these apps so you only get notified when your contacts call you. Otherwise, the call would be delivered to your voicemail without letting you know.

4. Report to the Authorities

If you’ve become a victim of spoofing or email spoofing and know somebody has been using your number, immediately report this situation to the relevant communications and law enforcement authorities. If you suspect somebody has been engaging in malicious activities using your number, it is imperative to free yourself from trouble.

Also, let all your contacts know about the situation so they know your number can pose some risk.

You may also like: What You Need to Know Before Buying a Refurbished Mobile Phone

Summary

Now you’ve armed yourself with the solutions for dealing with your spoofed number. Hopefully, you’ll soon be able to escape from this peril. It won’t happen overnight. However, you’ll have to give it a few days until these people let go of your number.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Apr 25, 2021, and was updated on Aug 15, 2023.