I have purchased a new sim card about a month ago and haven’t connected it to internet and using it in a dumb phone and only shared with Gov IDs, Banks but after 2-3 days of activation, I started receiving spam SMS. Received 4 Spam messages since Activation about game wallet credited and gambling and all.
I wish to check if it has already been leaked to anywhere or not. I tried to search it on have i been pwned but it says no breach. I tried my another number which has been breached but it still shows no breach so i am confused about search result. So I want your advises on situation.
I included country code, tried different formats too, still says no breach, even website you shared too, for old number tho. Anyways, Probably my new sim card number hasn’t breached yet but then how to stop spam sms other than just blocking them? I figured out that truecaller shows a short name for my new sim phone number. My conclusion is probably that’s reason why i am receiving such spam sms, because the number probably belonged to someone else before me.
Not being in a data breach is of course good, any prior use of that number will carry over as your experiencing. Every number of mine and my family has I push through the US do not call system.
You may find there is no threat using this number. I figured out a previous owner of one of my phone numbers. Created a similar alias for the phone number. This is just for association to the number.
My default ring tone for all calls is Silent, I use custom ring tones for all contacts to not be disturbed. I use a different number to verify unknown callers and just block and delete verified spam.
Is it just normal to all other countries and companies to again give deactivated numbers to new users as new number?? I purchased a brand new sim card tho which didnt mention about recycled numbers or anything. Probably it is general practice in india to do it.
My guess yes. Cloaked considers this a benefit as shared by @classboxchair
My tin foil hat buddy worked telecom in the 90’s and thinks porting your phone number was a benefit to track individuals by their phone number, with out having to associated the individual with a new number.
In the US new land line numbers caused new area codes to be generated, and new prefixes to be generated. This has to be similar to cell phones. People would get pissed they ended up with a new home phone number when finding a new phone number required getting a new phone book from that area.
What was considered a telephone hack was calling 411 for “information” to find someone’s phone number. Yes I am old.
We would take old phones and open telephone boxes on the side of the road. Confirm a dial tone. Dial a three digit code and the telephone number would be announced from the telephone company what line we were on. We then would use a code sent to our friends pager to call us back at that number.
Wow! that was interesting deatils! By the way, I just talked to customer care and they asked me to register for DND which will automatically block all kind of promotional and other spam sms, is there any downsides regarding privacy to register for DND?
Since your setting up DND over SMS, it would seem your only sharing information related to your mobile number. This seems very similar to the American Do not call registry. Very low risk.
