There are many types of scams and scams. In general, the phone call scam is a widespread and rooted type in all world countries. And with time, the people doing these things started using an extraordinary method. It calls you from a completely similar number to yours with a slight difference in one or two numbers as a type of annoying call.
When someone calls you from a similar number to yours. He is performing a scam known as Neighbor Spoofing. This method is designed to trick users into answering the call.
This is because receiving a call from a number similar to yours raises many questions on the one hand and gives some confidence in the number on the other.
In many cases, this method is used to impersonate the person in general. For example, the speaker claims that he is a person or a company and that he can use a number similar to your personal number. Usually, the numbers are very similar except for a small change in one or two numbers. As in the following image, the numbers covered in red are the same, and the difference is in the last numbers.
Receiving annoying calls from a number similar to yours
This step is only used, most of the time, to drag you to the stage of answering the call. As the person spoofs your number just like that to get you to answer the call. As soon as you answer the call, the conversation will start with him, and here the same fraud is attempted. Which usually revolve around your bank account, a request for information, or a transfer.
The primary objective here is to answer the call because the user usually ignores annoying calls permanently.
There is no unified and clear purpose for calls of this type. But the caller usually claims to be authorized by someone. Or to make you believe that it is someone who specializes in a field. Such as vaccines for the Covid-19 virus or something related to your social life. As we know, if the caller has a degree of professional persuasion and the recipient is naive, the swindling process is carried out with ease, whatever its cause or main objective.
How to Avoid This Type of Call
This deception technique relies on many methods. But of course, the hacker does not – if you will – buy a phone number similar to the phone number of everyone he wants to target! Rather, techniques have been used that display the phone number in this way at the recipient, which is a common occurrence, and perhaps the most important question here is: What do you do if you receive a call from a similar number to yours?
The answer is straightforward. You don’t need any steps. In fact, all you have to do is not answer the call in the first place. This is for two reasons. The first reason is that you will waste your time and effort unnecessarily. The second reason is that as soon as you answer the call, the software that does this task will understand that your number is worth targeting. And that you really cared and answered the phone when you received a call from a number similar to yours!
On the other hand, you can adopt technology and use it to your advantage. Using specialized applications to fetch information about the numbers that call you and alert you in case of any dangers. Only while the phone is ringing and before you need to answer the call, the most important of these applications are:
Best Applications to Avoid Spam Calls
As we mentioned above, the targeting process of this type depends on several forgery software and techniques. That is, these numbers are not real numbers associated with physical SIM cards. Therefore, if you receive many calls from numbers similar to yours. It would be a great step to contact your telecom provider to tell them about it. This is because companies may track the origin of the calls themselves, i.e., the original number that changes with the change of target.
This technology is not the only scam technology associated with your smart phone number. Expect always to receive promotional messages or fake messages from people impersonating shops, banks, or companies, and the best solution is to ignore and block the sender’s number completely.