Any way to detect and block spoofed phone numbers?

[nite_monkey]

So I've been getting a ton of calls where the area code, and the first 3 digits are the same as my phone number. I know that these are scammers spoofing their number so that it looks similar to my number in the hopes that I will be dumb enough to think that it may be someone that I know. I have a non rooted (and most likely won't ever be able to, thanks samsung) android phone. Is there some app or something that I can install that can detect a spoofed number, and block the call?

[wraith808]

I'm having the same thing happen on my google voice and my wife's cell.  It just started on my cell.  I wish there was some way to just block all by exchange...

Update:  I hadn't actually been annoyed enough before to look.  There are several that I've found from a simple google search.

Call Control

https://play.google....oid.everycallcontrol

That's the one that I'm currently trying, but there's also:

No Phone Spam

https://play.google.....bitfire.nophonespam

I'm thinking about trying this instead as it's FOSS and apparently doesn't require a lot of permissions.

There's also:

TrueCaller

https://play.google....ls?id=com.truecaller

Didn't try this, because I'm not sure if this is the one recommended as many came up when I searched for TrueCaller


Note: For iOS, there's Hiya (which is also available on Android)

https://itunes.apple...caller-id-and-block/

https://play.google....webascender.callerid

There were several that came up as related to these apps, so just search and you can find them if these are not to your liking.

[nite_monkey]

I have hiya on my phone, however it only detects scammers and spammers. As far as I can tell, there is no option to detect spoofing.

[Stoic Joker]

Don't know... I just seems like the older I get the less patience I seem to have - Just don't seem to have the energy for it anymore. So I've actually started liking the frequency of phone spam - because I hate phones to start with - but I just know there will be that (at least...) one call every day that is fair game to vent whatever frustrations I may be having that day on the poor bastard on the other end.

Robocalls are even fine for this, because after the initial pharmaceutically perky "Hi this is an over the top spunky person that want's your money" spam call confirmation that (Pavlovian) sets of the tirade it really doesn't matter what if anything they have, or may have had to say. I'm far to focused on weaving the most incredibly profane frothing tirade I can muster at the moment … And their responses aren't really important … The fact that it's a recording that can't hang-up until one of us is done however is.

Now I have the option - on good days - to just hang-up, or not answer, or feign a practice tirade…whichever makes me feel better … And that's all that matters really ... As long as I feel better about the call, after the call, it's okay.

[wraith808]

I have hiya on my phone, however it only detects scammers and spammers. As far as I can tell, there is no option to detect spoofing.

-nite_monkey (April 19, 2018, 01:46 PM)

You can't put in patterns?  Have you looked at the others?  It hasn't reached critical mass for me yet.

UPDATE: Got rid of CallControl almost immediately.  Needed too much access to my google account, and it's a subscription service.  Trying NoPhoneSpam now.

[nite_monkey]

I have hiya on my phone, however it only detects scammers and spammers. As far as I can tell, there is no option to detect spoofing.

-nite_monkey (April 19, 2018, 01:46 PM)

You can't put in patterns?  Have you looked at the others?  It hasn't reached critical mass for me yet.

-wraith808 (April 19, 2018, 03:07 PM)

I can, but then I run the risk of blocking legit callers

[wraith808]

I have hiya on my phone, however it only detects scammers and spammers. As far as I can tell, there is no option to detect spoofing.

-nite_monkey (April 19, 2018, 01:46 PM)

You can't put in patterns?  Have you looked at the others?  It hasn't reached critical mass for me yet.

-wraith808 (April 19, 2018, 03:07 PM)

I can, but then I run the risk of blocking legit callers

-nite_monkey (April 19, 2018, 03:14 PM)

I don't get what you're asking then.  You're asking if it can automagically detect if a number is spoofed?  Don't think there's a way to do that, though I could be wrong.  I just put in the pattern.  The chances of someone calling with my same area code and exchange are pretty slim, I figure.

[xtabber]

The FCC issued a Consumer Alert about the current spoofing epidemic last month.

Don't expect them to do much about it though. Here's the official FCC guide to protecting yourself from spam calls. Not much help there, although they do provide links to most carriers' pages on the topic.

I simply let all numbers that are not in my phone book go through to voicemail, and if it's a legitimate caller, I'll call back.  Google Voice is great for this since it provides text transcriptions of most messages, so I don't even have to listen to them to know if I should respond.

[wraith808]

The FCC issued a Consumer Alert about the current spoofing epidemic last month.

Don't expect them to do much about it though. Here's the official FCC guide to protecting yourself from spam calls. Not much help there, although they do provide links to most carriers' pages on the topic.

I simply let all numbers that are not in my phone book go through to voicemail, and if it's a legitimate caller, I'll call back.  Google Voice is great for this since it provides text transcriptions of most messages, so I don't even have to listen to them to know if I should respond.

-xtabber (April 20, 2018, 09:13 AM)

So much this.  I found the same alerts when searching, but they were so useless that I didn't bother to post them.  Google voice is a boon, and I have separate numbers for my home e-mail address linked to my phones live, and my main e-mail address, which isn't linked to anything that I use whenever someone requests my phone number.