Reasons not to advertise your personal mobile or home number

07 Aug

“One Ring Scam” – this is where you receive a call which rings your mobile only one ring. You will see a phone number starting 070 and will likely call back. The 070 number looks like a mobile number but is really a “Personal” or “Follow me” number which can cost 30p to £2.50 per minute to call from mobiles, 4p to £3.40 from a landline. When you call the number you will just hear it ringing, but what is really going on is that the remote system immediately answers the call which starts costing you, but plays back a ringing sound. Therefore the longer you keep “ringing” the more it costs you. Sometimes the call sounds like it connects, saying something like “Hi thanks for calling back I am interested in…” then cuts off making you call back and costing you more…

Spam Texts – A mobile phone is the easiest way for the spammer to send information to you that can be fraudulent or spurious. Texts can purport to be from friends asking for you to call them or banks advising your account has been locked or other services advising your account has been locked or compromised. All will likely show a phone number which will be expensive to call or as the “One ring spam” play ring sounds to keep you on the line. Texts can also hold web addresses which can take you to spurious websites which can download Malware to your phone.

Voicemail scam – like Text and “One ring” mentioned above, a voicemail is left which asks you to call a costly phone number, see 1) and 2) above with why you should not call back.

Identity Theft – A lot of services use your personal mobile phone number as part of security, so advertising your mobile number means you are giving away one element of your security.

Smartphones Wi-Fi hacking – Never! Ever! Connect to “Free” Wi-Fi. Free Wi-Fi is notorious for being monitored by hackers and those in the know. While your device may not be hacked, anything you access on free Wi-Fi can be watched, so any password or Pin you access can be logged.

Watch out for calls from known numbers they may not always be who they appear to be. There are simple ways for unscrupulous people to appear to call from Banks or any phone number. You may recognise a number or have them in your contacts, so may see “Incoming call from HSBC”. While you may be aware not to give out your Pin, you may confirm details as you feel the bank has called you which can be part of your security elements. If the call appears to come from a friend, you may answer “Hi Pete, how’s it going?”, Firstly have confirmed the name of the person being spoofed and that they are likely a friend.

Watch out for texts asking you to vote or answer simple questions for an item you may have purchased. These are usually scams and can be an attempt to capture your other security elements.

Never call phone numbers from Texts, emails, are voicemail received from banks or service companies. Always call the number you know or look upon the company’s actual website. When searching on the web ensure sites have “Secure” or the padlock symbol against the web address. There are plenty of websites that show fake phone numbers for companies but are 0844 or 0870 numbers that forward to the right number but cost you much more.