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I don't know if other travelers have run into this but somewhat regularly when I arrive in a different major metropolitan area, I will get scam-spam calls withi

I don't know if other travelers have run into this but somewhat regularly when I arrive in a different major metropolitan area, I will get scam-spam calls within a day spoofed from that area code despite the fact that my phone number has nothing to do with that region and I haven't been in that specific location either ever or at least a longtime. It happens in both North America and Europe. I know fake base stations might not be the reason for scammers targeting my phone but would be curious if others have seen this and have their own hypothesis?

jhloa2 4y ago
Could it simply be that a lot of advertisers have enough data about you to link your phone ip to your phone number?
- btreesOfSpring 4y ago
  Not sure why the calls would be scam calls though. It would be one thing if they were legitimate marketing spam calls originating from phone number traceable back to the business originating the conversation but these are clearly cases where the number is faked in the new area code/country::city code in order to incentivize picking up. (Is that the car rental company? Is the hotel reaching out for some reason? Etc...) I guess my paranoia here stems from this link in the OPs pdf[0]. 0. https://venturebeat.com/2014/09/18/the-cell-tower-mystery-gripping-america-has-now-been-solved-or-has-it/ https://venturebeat.com/2014/09/18/the-cell-tower-mystery-gr...
chucksmash 4y ago
Interesting. Never saw the spam numbers transition either when travelling or when living in a new area long term. I only ever get spoofed number calls from the area code of my cell phone number. Works out pretty well because I only lived there in passing 12 years ago, so never wonder if I'm missing a real call by ignoring them. Could it be apps sharing location info?
woodruffw 4y ago
I haven't personally experienced that, but I suspect the explanation is simpler: someone is probably re-selling your geocoded IP, which is then bucketed into a range of telephone area codes.
- btreesOfSpring 4y ago
  This makes the most sense.

jhloa2 4y ago

Could it simply be that a lot of advertisers have enough data about you to link your phone ip to your phone number?

btreesOfSpring 4y ago
Not sure why the calls would be scam calls though. It would be one thing if they were legitimate marketing spam calls originating from phone number traceable back to the business originating the conversation but these are clearly cases where the number is faked in the new area code/country::city code in order to incentivize picking up. (Is that the car rental company? Is the hotel reaching out for some reason? Etc...) I guess my paranoia here stems from this link in the OPs pdf[0]. 0. https://venturebeat.com/2014/09/18/the-cell-tower-mystery-gripping-america-has-now-been-solved-or-has-it/ https://venturebeat.com/2014/09/18/the-cell-tower-mystery-gr...

chucksmash 4y ago

Interesting. Never saw the spam numbers transition either when travelling or when living in a new area long term. I only ever get spoofed number calls from the area code of my cell phone number. Works out pretty well because I only lived there in passing 12 years ago, so never wonder if I'm missing a real call by ignoring them. Could it be apps sharing location info?

woodruffw 4y ago

I haven't personally experienced that, but I suspect the explanation is simpler: someone is probably re-selling your geocoded IP, which is then bucketed into a range of telephone area codes.

btreesOfSpring 4y ago
This makes the most sense.