I keep getting calls from phone numbers that are similar to mine. Scam?

April 10, 2018 2:54 PM

For the past 2+ months I've been periodically getting calls to my cell phone from unknown phone numbers with the same area code and the same first three digits of my own cell number (the final four digits are usually different, but there have been a couple of repeats). What could this be all about? Are other people experiencing this kind of thing? More details below.

I almost always miss these calls (they always come during my workdays, when I don't want to be taking personal calls), but the callers never leave voicemails. I have picked up these calls exactly twice, and both times I didn't hear anyone on the other end, and the caller disconnected immediately.

posted by Mechitar to Technology (27 answers total)

I've gotten calls like that recently. I also get calls from a number identified (not by me) as "Scam Likely" on the caller ID. I have picked up a few times. I have gotten:
-hang-ups
-robo message about how an offer to change the interest rate on my credit card is going to expire (a scam, clearly)
-robo message in Chinese that just repeated the same phrases a few times

It's effing annoying. Clearly there's something to the psychology of calling someone from a number similar to theirs though!
posted by purple_bird at 3:00 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

They are robo-diallers who spoof phone numbers they think will be least suspicious. When I say "spoofed" I mean they're not actually calling from the displayed number, it's faked - if you call any of these numbers back you may get a real person, not the company who made the call. I installed an app that blocks all calls that start with the same area code + 3 digits as my phone number.
posted by muddgirl at 3:01 PM on April 10, 2018 [7 favorites]

It's absolutely a scam trying to appear to be your neighbor calling you (joke's on them - I don't even know my neighbors!) Planet Money did an episode on them recently. Don't answer!
posted by Drosera at 3:02 PM on April 10, 2018 [11 favorites]

Yes, they're spoofed numbers. Never answer them.
posted by rtha at 3:02 PM on April 10, 2018

I get them every other day or so, and so does my mom. (Different area code, different first three.)

I answered one a ways back and I can't remember what they were trying to sell me. I think it might have been a timeshare.

It's actually a pretty brilliant ploy. Although I know better now, I'm much, much more likely to answer when it looks like a local caller than when it looks like a toll-free number.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:02 PM on April 10, 2018

So glad you posted this question because I've been wondering the same thing, i.e., calls from numbers with the same area code and prefix. I've never answered and they've never left a message.
posted by she's not there at 3:08 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

For a few months a couple years ago, I not only got these calls but had a couple of these numbers call saying that I had called them. Awkward indeed but it stopped and hasn't happened since.
posted by noxperpetua at 3:11 PM on April 10, 2018

Yes, for about the past year I have noticed the increase in phone calls that share the prefix of my cell number. They are always scam calls. Luckily for me, that means I never answer phone calls that share the prefix of my cell number. Very easy screening system.
posted by demiurge at 3:12 PM on April 10, 2018 [3 favorites]

Fun anecdote: They wouldn't stop calling me from the same spoofed number that was similar to my number - they called 4-5 times in a row. The last time I picked up the phone and put it next to my screaming infant. Calls stopped. YMMV.
posted by Toddles at 3:22 PM on April 10, 2018 [8 favorites]

Yeah, this is common. My father-in-law just asked me the same question. Personally, over 90% of the spoofed calls I get are for LifeAlert (the "I've fallen and I can't get up" people). As far as I'm aware, there is no actual solution. You can block numbers individually, but that's reactive, not proactive.
posted by kevinbelt at 3:25 PM on April 10, 2018

For smartphones, I have the Truecaller app and I can give it a range of numbers to auto-reject. I could auto-reject all numbers from an area code if I wanted. I have it set up to reject all calls from numbers that start with, say, +1-530-212 (not my actual number - just an example). It also has a bunch of other blacklist and white list options.

There are several other highly-rated anti-spam apps for android and iPhone, this was just the one I picked.
posted by muddgirl at 3:35 PM on April 10, 2018

it's a stupid scam which is hilarious when you have a cellphone bc it's like they really think i'm gonna be all "oh wow guess i better see who's calling from a number somewhat like the one randomly assigned to me 14 years ago! it might be important!"

i haven't answered my phone since the last bush administration
posted by poffin boffin at 3:43 PM on April 10, 2018 [14 favorites]

I've been getting these! I never answer them. If I dont recognize the number that shit goes straight to voicemail. My SO has been getting them. We have NYC prefixes on our cell phones but do not live there anymore so we were extra suspicious.
posted by vrakatar at 3:56 PM on April 10, 2018

Yep, like above, it's a spoofed number scam.

Imagine how fun it was during my last major job search when I got 5-10 of these calls a day. I ended up just googling the number every time I got a call. 99.9% of them were spoofed, but I had to make sure I wasn't ignoring potential job calls back. But it worked for the most part. By a week in, if I was near a computer, I could successfully google the number before the ringing stopped. Just putting this here for a potential solution for anybody who can't use a block calling app.
posted by General Malaise at 3:57 PM on April 10, 2018

If you have Android, you can block these calls using the Truecaller app. On iOS it doesn't have that functionality but Hiya does.
posted by karbonokapi at 3:57 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have Hiya on Android for this specific problem.

You can also block them in Android itself: in phone, settings, call, you'll find an auto reject list. You can usually set it to reject by an incomplete pattern, for instance numbers that start with 212-555.

I also have my voicemail sent to a Google number, and in those settings I can send those voicemails directly to trash.

It's a huge pain. And I so much resent that somehow, somewhere these stupid spammers have actually succeeded in breaking the national telephone system, all for a few lousy bucks.
posted by Dashy at 5:11 PM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

I had a phone and number given to me by an organization I work with that I knew I would be giving up in two months time and the organization would give it back to Verizon. I started answering the ones that fit the area code + prefix pattern. Every. Single. Time. It was a scammer trying to sell me something except once when the person said I had just called them and what did I want. I told them world peace. Then I explained what I thought happening with my number being spoofed. With the scammer types, I would play dumb. (Easy for me.) I just would listen then say, "I don't understand." or "Why?" or "Can you say that again, but much slower."

The calls went through periods of slower and then more often, but never went away all together.

DO NOT ANSWER them. Do not swipe to send them to voice mail. That lets them know you are a live number. Just keep the phone on silent and let them ring if you do not want to use TrueCaller or the like.
posted by AugustWest at 5:20 PM on April 10, 2018

My life got immeasurably better when I downloaded a silent ringtone and set it as my default. All my contacts are assigned an audible ringtone, and if someone calls me who isn't in my contacts, they can leave a message.
posted by telophase at 5:50 PM on April 10, 2018 [6 favorites]

It's funny, as others have mentioned the scammers think this is less fishy. Because I have a Google Voice number from 1000 miles away, these calls stick out like a sore thumb.
posted by getawaysticks at 5:54 PM on April 10, 2018

If the caller isn't on my contacts list, it goes to voicemail.
posted by GeeEmm at 6:44 PM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I get these calls regularly as well, on average once or twice a day. I never answer them. I mean, I almost never answer my phone anyway, but still. I actually prefer these to other spam calls, because I immediately know to ignore them.

(It helps that I'm using the cell number I got in high school, and I now live thousands of miles away, so there's literally no reason for me to care about a call from that area code, excluding people who are already in my phone's contacts.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:05 PM on April 10, 2018

I am the only person I know with my area code/prefix combo, so I never answer them. I rarely answer calls from numbers I don't know anyway.
posted by lhauser at 8:54 PM on April 10, 2018

They can get even more devious. They can leave you a voicemail without making your phone ring.
posted by yesster at 9:16 PM on April 10, 2018

Mod note: One deleted. Sorry, no "piggyback" questions – which tend to hijack thread answers to be about something other than the originally posted question. But it's totally fine to make a new post asking about your similar yet different issue!
posted by taz (staff) at 3:18 AM on April 11, 2018

Yeah, I get a ton of these. Multiple times a day sometimes. Easy for me to ignore, because I know no one IRL with the exchange of my cell phone. I block them, but it’s like playing whack-a-mole. Just makes me feel better in the moment.

Even better, on our VOIP system at work, I keep getting calls from “myself.” Yes, they spoof the caller ID so it appears to be from my own number. Eventually I had to block myself from calling myself. I worried that might break something, but it doesn’t seem to have.
posted by snowmentality at 5:17 AM on April 11, 2018

I get these too and have never answered them. I've heard that some of them might be the "This is Microsoft and your computer is full of viruses!!!!111!" scammers.

I'm a Google Voice holdout so I block the number so the next time it calls they get an SIT and "disconnected or no longer in service." message. That seems to keep the calls down to only one every few days as opposed to the several a day that I hear some people get.
posted by Gev at 7:00 AM on April 11, 2018

Came into the thread to see if anyone is having luck with call blocking apps. The term of art for this kind of call is "neighbor spoofing." Since the caller is picking the number at random, or using some Byzantine strategy, blocking the number or using a call blocking app doesn't necessarily help. I've gotten two or three calls this year from people asking why I called their number. Of course, I hadn't called - a telemarketer/scammer picked my number as the originating number.
posted by kovacs at 6:16 PM on April 11, 2018