TIP OF THE MONTH!!! - THE "NOT FUNNY" PRANK
We're not really sure where this one falls in. Which category should it be under? Prank? Scam? Invasion of Privacy? Well...wherever it falls in....we just call it SCARY.
We all take our privacy seriously. We all take our intimate conversations as being private conversations. Sure...the government has all of the technological tools in the world to spy on us, listen to our calls, collect our emails and texts but, what if I told you that there is something so vulnerable that a 9 year old could do, has immediate access to and doesn't need a $450 million dollar budget to have...? In fact...in some cases...it's free! Just go to the app store.
All you need is a smartphone and any kind of spoofing app. What a spoofing app does is masks your caller ID so that you could be calling from any number you chose. You could spoof your number as the White House switchboard, your local police department, pizza delivery,...WHATEVER. The problem comes when someone spoof calls YOU with YOUR number. Think about this...what happens when you call yourself? I'll let you think about it for a second and then, you'll realize that...you go straight to your voicemail. Most of us have an app that handles our voicemail so we are never regularly in our ACTUAL voicemail anymore. So...what happens if someone calls you with their CID spoofed as your number...(/)...you guessed it...they go straight into your voicemail. What's worse is...your phone, in most cases, WON'T EVEN RING! You'll have no idea that someone is listening to your voicemails, maybe changing messages, recording the content of them or even...forwarding your calls to them.
LIKE I SAID...SCARY!!! Is this a scam? A lot of scam artists use it! Is this an invasion of privacy? Absolutely!! Is it a prank? The main purpose of the apps are for that nature but...I say NO! Even if nothing malicious is done...it's not just..."no harm no foul". Problem is...You'll most likely never know about it.
So...WHAT CAN BE DONE? Well...most of the phones that have an app that controls voicemail do not require a password/pin. The ones that do, have it as a setting in the app itself. so my advice is...USE IT! Setup a pin. Easy to remember...not easy to figure out. Add it to your voicemail and...BAM! The door is closed. You still have access...spoofers don't. Let m try. All you did was added a 4 second inconvenience to your voicemail that you, usually, don't get into anyways. On your cellphone at least. This can be used on home voicemails as well tho...ADD A PIN. Always make sure you add as many layers of protection between your information and the people you are guarding from it.
As always, we are happy to bring things to your attention you may not have been aware of or bring things back up that you may have forgotten. Please keep coming back for more information. We are constantly researching tips and tricks for free, cheap or DIY security that you can take advantage of. Be sure and Like our facebook page, Share it with friends and family and Invite them to do the same.
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