Scammers obtain your phone number and employ highly technical strategies to defraud you of cash and private information. 

Around the world, the number of scam calls has been progressively increasing. 

For instance, compared to 2020, the number of scam calls made to Americans increased by 118% by 2021. In a similar scenario, a recent study found that 4 out of 10 adults in the UK reported receiving a questionable call in 2021. 

The same survey reveals that 2% of these targets fell for the con artists’ traps and obeyed their commands. Scammers also use your phone number for other objectives, such as stealing money from your bank account and conducting identity fraud, in addition to making scam calls. You will learn in this essay how these con artists obtain your phone number and how you may safeguard yourself by using Fundstrace.

How do scammers get your cell phone number?

You use your phone number to verify your identification while login into your bank account or filling out online forms. 

Your phone number is one of the most typical pieces of personal information you use on a daily basis, along with your email address. 

Scammers illegally obtain your phone number using the following techniques, and they do so specifically for this purpose.

Learn Also – Everything to Know About Phone Number Takeover

Dark web

On the dark web, scammers buy phone numbers in quantity. For instance, a dataset containing four million Clubhouse users’ phone numbers was available for purchase on the dark web. 

Scammers can easily purchase millions of phone numbers on the dark web. 

For instance, an American’s basic personal information, such as his phone number, costs merely $8.

Number generator

The auto-dialer is yet another approach scammers frequently employ. This machinery creates random phone numbers and dials them.

Social media, web search, and directories on the web

Numerous sites, phone directories, and social media platforms on the net contain phone numbers. Fraudsters employ a multitude of strategies, such as web scraping, to collect phone numbers from the Internet.

How can con artists use your phone number? 

Scammers obtain phone numbers unlawfully and utilize them for a variety of nefarious purposes, including

Scam calls

Scammers are most likely after your phone number for this reason. Once they get your phone number, scammers will call you and try to swindle you out of money or other sensitive information. 

Scammers frequently pose as reputable banks, insurance companies, governmental agencies, or mega-retailers to deceive you. 

For instance, HMRC disclosed that in 2021, consumers in the UK got almost 600,000 calls from con artists posing as HMRC. Scammers in some of these calls demanded private financial information and persuaded people to make payments by promising tax refunds and dangling the prospect of penalties for unpaid taxes.

Your contact information may be used by scammers to access your accounts.

A text message sent to your phone number can be used as a multifactor authentication method. You frequently use your phone number to log into apps like banking apps on your mobile device. 

Some of these SMS systems, however, are not end-to-end encrypted and are, therefore, vulnerable to hacking. This text message can be forwarded to the scammers’ phone numbers, giving them access to your bank accounts and/or applications if they have your phone number. Consult money trace as soon as you suspect that crooks may have stolen your accounts. They offer a knowledgeable team who can assist you in quickly recovering your payments.

Take over social media accounts.

Your phone number is another way that scammers might access your social media accounts. 

Your phone number is the first thing scammers use to commit this theft. Then, they give you a new SIM card and your number. By doing this, they can maintain control over your phone number while disconnecting it from your mobile device. SIM switching is the name of this technique. 

Scammers can impersonate you using this technique to change your passwords and control your social media accounts.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that scam calls are becoming more prevalent generally, you can avoid being a victim of fraud by paying more attention when you receive opportunistic calls. 

You shouldn’t divulge any personal information, including login information, passwords, or health information, when you receive calls from unknown numbers. 

It is advised to hang up the phone and double-check whether the company making the call has that number listed as its contact information on its website if you feel you are receiving a scam call. Additionally, you need to get in touch with money trace just in case. FundsTrace is an investigative recovery company equipped with subject-matter professionals who can examine your case, compile facts about your criminals, and find your fraudster for you.