Weird stuff doesn't usually happen to me but

[RGG]

OK--mystery solved.
Instead of dusting I went surfing and Googled "phone spoofing" as suelarue suggested, and found several references to scammers Phishing by having your own name and number appear in your caller ID. It is becoming quite common and the suggested response is don't answer or call back any messages.

Why is My Number Calling Me? A Crazy New Scam.
By
Emily Patterson
– June 23, 2014Posted in: Computers-Internet-Technology, National, Phishing, Security

inShare

Scammers are using caller ID spoofing technology to impersonate the phone numbers of local businesses, neighbors and even you! Watch out for this wacky twist on the classic phishing phone scam.

How the Scam Works:

Your phone rings, and you look at the caller ID. You recognize the number. It may be from a local business or a neighbor down the street. But in strange twist, you might even see your own name and phone number on the caller ID screen.

I don't know if getting a new unlisted phone number would be worth the bother as the scammers seem to have the newest technology first.
Anyway, it caught me off guard and seemed too weird--but WEIRD has rapidly become the new "normal."
laters,
shellycheval

Funny event and good detective work on figuring out what the most likely answer is but I would probably "get off your but and do your chores" -just in case;)

 

[davey72]

It does sound like telemarketers "spoofing". By a google search, it seems to be happening quite a lot to many people. Back in the day, we used to "call ourselves" by dialing 8, then our number, then hang up quick. The phone would then ring back, essentially calling yourself. {We used to prank our parents with this just for giggles, watching them get up, answer, then keep repeating "hello" - pretty silly, buy we were kids. :P }

Funny we used to do the same thing. I'm not sure if it is done with landlines, but i recently had a call from someone saying i had called him. It was in his call logs, but i had not made the call. He contacted telus about it, and they said that my phone number was likely cloned. Apparently this happens quite often.

 

[Seamus]

I didn't get any phonecalls like this but my watch mysteriously gained 2 hours yesterday

Its one like this:

so I don't think there's any way I could have bumped it because the little adjuster knob screws in. I think its just the battery dying because I just checked it again and it stopped at 11am (its 2pm here now). I freaked myself out a little bit yesterday though

 

[tschai]

Wow-the phone thing happened to us as well-it is pretty weird to get a phone call from yourself-we also got calls from a realtor at times when there was no one even in their office and they claimed no one from there had called-so that's what's up huh? A lot of strange stuff like this and the computer hacks...wonder if it IS phishing or the PTB are testing their gear ????

 

[Minas Tirith]

Well, it's a little like people getting an email from you and it wasn't you, but someone who hacked your address. This happened to me a lot when I had a gmail account. It's not an actual hacking that "they" want your details, they want to use your email address to send fake links to people who know you and then open these virus-contaminated links, because they know and trust you.

About the phones I don't know. But, viruses seem to get more and more prevalent - on many levels ...

M.T.

 

[lizzie]

If I didn't know about caller ID spoofing and then I get a call purportedly from my own phone number, I'd be surprised, too. But I read about this caller ID spoofing thing and it turned out to be possible. I learned that nuisance callers can actually fake the phone number that comes up on the recipient's caller ID. With such calls, report it to your telephone service provider.

 

[Zadius Sky]

Hi lizzie,

Welcome to the Forum. We would appreciate it if you can introduce yourself in the Newbies section. Nothing personal, just a little bit about yourself and how you found the forum. If you are unsure of what to write, take a look at how others on the board have done it. Thanks. :)

 

[lizzie]

What I learned from http://www.callercenter.com/articles/calleridspoofing.html was surprising. It was about who's helping the callers spoof caller IDs. It's a wonder how it's even allowed.