Home Forums Peripherals & Multimedia iTunes, iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV A call from myself ; my name

Call just came in called ID my name, answered said hello hanged up, no answer. ANd in recently calls if was number of my iphone, one only number. ANy idea how that can happen? 1st time... As victim of a spoofing few years ago, kind of worries.

Spammers use computer programs that dial random numbers or numbers from prospect lists they have purchased from Google or other even more nefarious services, and because those calls are injected into the telco network via a computer, the spammers have the ability to identify themselves with any number they desire. They have found the many people will not answer calls when caller ID is turned off but even suspicious people or more likely to answer a call that appears to be in the same general area as the number called so the calling number may be drawn from the same list as the number called, thereby Increasing the odds the called number and calling number are the same. On your iPhone, if the calling number appears in your contacts list, the name associated with the number in the contacts list will be displayed.

I haven't tried this, so there may be undesirable side-effects, but if this is a frequent occurrence, you be able to prevent this from happening by blocking you own phone number.

PS: A spam blocker such as MalwareBytes would probably help, but there is the risk it might block a legitimate customer as well.

Joe so far one time fluke. How did a call come in from my own number. The phone is calling ok, receiving ok and not getting calls from people that why am I calling them, as did couple years ago when number was spoofed. But this happened today: A call came in my full name on caller id, no answer I hung up. ANd verified in recent calls in came from my number (not someone who had different number with my name). Hence it looked I butt called myself by accident, excent the phone was on the dock, and technically you should not be able to even receive a call from yourself.

Just tested, went to contacts and my name number there, dialed, when picked up, unlike earlier, said enter password, and no caller id.

So this was real odd.

Although today's telco networks use computer switching the network is designed for a system using mechanical switches and a unique pair of copper wires connecting each telephone number to a central office. Caller-ID is a feature cobbled on top of that network and is basically another message generated by the caller's central office and riding on the carrier. The unique pair of copper wires is sufficient to prevent you calling yourself on the same number in the mechanical network. But because spammers are entering the telco network via computers instead of a central office there is nothing to prevent them from spoofing the caller ID. It would be possible to change the world-wide telephone network to eliminate that from happening, but the cost would be astronomical and universally implemented so it doesn't get fixed.

Thanks JOe yes happend 3 years ago

This weird thing where I got call from my own number, ( which cannot even recreate) Verizon says maybe some glitch with their voicemail service, who knows...

Actually it has happened to me twice, in the past year. Once while I was on AT&T and later after I had switched to T-Mobile.

Joe woe, do phone was not in your hand or pocket, away, and call comes in from you number exactly -- maybe even saw you name on caller ID. Any idea how happens? Odd no?

Yes, As I said in a previous post in this thread.