I got spoofed and was forced to change my mobile number – it could happen to you too

IF you’ve ever been targeted by a scammer, you’ll know it can be a scary and worrying experience.

But has a fraudster ever pretended to be YOU, in order to trick people out of their hard-earned cash?

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That’s exactly what happened to me, when I discovered that my phone number had been “spoofed” and crooks were using it to try and scam people.

It’s a horrible form of identity fraud and a cunning way for fraudsters to attempt to steal cash or money from unsuspecting victims, as the number appears to be from a trusted source.

It all started six months ago, when I started getting mysterious phone calls from strangers claiming that they’d has missed calls from me.

But when I checked my call log each time, I could see that I never made the call to that number.

I would tell the caller that they made a mistake, and hang up the phone.

I was suspicious that these were scammers trying to lure me into handing over money in some way, so I made sure to block the numbers after I put the phone down.

But the calls kept coming and each time I kept blocking the number.

That was until last week, when I received a WhatsApp out of the blue from a lady I didn’t know.

“Hello, did you call me?” the text read.

I usually don’t message back when I get these sorts of WhatsApp messages, as I’m wary of scammers.

But I was confused when the lady sent a screenshot of her call log – and surprisingly, my phone number was at the top of the list.

I decided to message back, explaining that I didn’t call her.

I thanked her for flagging the missed call, and said I would look into what happened.

After contacting my phone company, ID Mobile, I was told that the most likely explanation for what had happened was that my phone number had been spoofed.

They said there wasn’t much the company could do about my spoofed number, although I had the option to change my phone number, which would cost £25.

I was also told to report the issue to Action Fraud.

The thought of a scammer using my number and pretending to be me to con money out of innocent people made me sick to my stomach.

So I decided to bite the bullet, swallow the £25 charge, and put the experience behind me.

Even better, I’ve not had a single scam call or text since I switched my number – before, I used to get at least one a week.

However, there’s nothing to stop my new number from being spoofed too.

It’s also been a massive inconvenience contacting all my friends, family, and organisations to let them know about my change of number.

iD Mobile said: “We understand how frustrating it is for customers to receive calls from people claiming they’ve been contacted by them.

“In this instance, it appears the number was spoofed — a common industry issue where fraudsters fake caller IDs without needing access to the number itself.”

I’ve been told that if I report it to Action Fraud, the £25 fee will be waived – which I’m planning on doing soon.

Spoofing on the rise

The main reason why scammers will spoof numbers is in order to target more victims without being caught up in something called the Do Not Originate (DNO) list.

Ofcom and UK Finance launched the DNO list in 2019.

Companies and organisations add to the list when a rogue number is reported, and this list is shared with telecoms providers to help them identify and block calls from these numbers.

It’s an effective tool in filtering through scam callers – but tech and cyber security expert David McClelland said scammers are exploiting a loophole.

“Perhaps because of this DNO list – although it’s difficult to say for sure – scammers are now also making calls that spoof individuals’ mobile numbers,” he said.

Spoofing is becoming a big problem.

The telcoms regulator, Ofcom, is so concerned about the growing threat of spoofing that it launched a consultation in July last year on how to address the issue.

It said it was “concerned” that scam calls are coming from scammers who are spoofing UK mobile numbers.

It said a call from a spoofed number could appear more trustworthy, and “victims are more likely to share personal information or to make a payment, which can lead to significant financial and emotional harm”.

It can therefore make it much easier for fraudsters to hunt down victims and steal their money.

Some 5.7million Brits have been targeted by a mobile phone scammer more than 10 times, according to research from comparison site Uswitch.

And an eye-watering £1.17billion was swiped by scammers in 2024 – roughly level to what was stolen in 2023.

What can you do about spoofing?

Worryingly, phone companies can’t do a lot about spoofing, says Jake Moore from the cybersecurity firm ESET.

“There’s no solid bulletproof way to stop this sort of spoofing,” he says.

“However, it’s a good idea to report it to Action Fraud and at extreme lengths, you can change your number.

“This may be challenging for some people – but it will eradicate the problem if your phone number appears on a list that hackers delve into.”

My spoofing experience has been sobering, and has reminded me of the importance of remaining vigilant against scammers.

Set your privacy settings to the highest level on your social media and messaging accounts.

This is so people can’t contact you or collect personal information about you – it’s surprising how much we share on our accounts.

Be wary of who you share your number with.

“Try to reduce the amount of companies you give your phone number to,” Jake said.

“Most website forms will ask for it but not all of them will require it for the service or product to work.

“By limiting where your number is divulged, it reduces the chance it will be breached.”

If you get a cold call, never rely on just using the caller ID as a way to verify who they say they are.

It’s worryingly easy for scammers to spoof a number.

If someone says they are from your bank, then hang up and call the number on the back of your card, or through the mobile bank app.

If someone says they are from an official organisation, like HMRC, hang up and look up the number to call back on the gov.uk website.

Being spoofed has made me realise the lengths that scammers will go to in order to trick you into handing over money.

From now on, I’ll be keeping a close eye on where I’m sharing my phone number.