Dealing with Phone Number Spoofing: A Personal Experience

Hello everyone,

Today, I want to share a perplexing situation that I’ve recently encountered regarding my phone number being used to send unsolicited messages to my contacts. It all began during a casual Zoom call with an old friend who mentioned receiving strange texts from me. Naturally, I was taken aback, especially since I had no idea these texts were being sent and they were anything but characteristic of my usual messaging style.

My friend described the messages as typical “new phone, who’s this?” inquiries, which sparked my suspicion about phone number spoofing—something I had only ever read about in the context of scams. However, these messages didn’t contain the usual scam elements. Instead, they included photos I instantly recognized from various trolling accounts across different online platforms. This made me think that someone might be experimenting with my number to provoke reactions from my contacts.

To document this troubling issue, I shared a post in the r/Verizon community, including screenshots of the bizarre messages I had received. You can view my full post here.

I reached out to see if anyone had insights on how to resolve this matter, particularly because I rely heavily on this phone for work-related communications.

Update on the Situation

After receiving valuable feedback from the Reddit community, I contacted Verizon. They confirmed that the texts weren’t sent through their network, which leaves a couple of possibilities. Either my Apple ID had been compromised (which I’ve already addressed by changing my password), or someone had indeed spoofed my number without my knowledge.

I took the proactive step of reaching out to my friends to inform them of the situation and advised anyone who might be affected to reach out to me directly via phone or email. As it stands, it seems like the matter is as resolved as it can be, though the incident has caused a fair amount of concern.

A Little Background

To clarify a few additional points, this unusual texting spree appears to have occurred solely with that particular friend back in September—no one else has reported receiving strange messages from me. I also live in a relatively isolated area with minimal contact with others, especially since the pandemic began. The only individuals who have been around my phone are family members and a few senior