How do spam callers get your number in the first place?

Whether it’s spam calls or text messages, the modern world is dominated by flooded inboxes and phone scams. If you find yourself inundated with notifications about packages you didn’t order or services you’ve never used, you might wonder how all these ads and cons made their way to you. Luckily, you can stem the flow of slop.

There are many ways to stop spam calls on Android, iPhone and other devices, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you want to get ahead of spammers, you need to know how you’re getting spammed in the first place. 

Unfortunately, many of these causes are out of your hands, such as random robocaller dials and data breaches. On the bright side, there are some steps you can take to keep your number from spreading further.

A good portion of spam calls and texts come from sheer bad luck. Sometimes you need to use your number for an important account, only for that site or service to be hit by a data breach. Either that, or an illegal robocaller has randomly dialed your number or stolen it from a public record, like a court directory, property deeds or corporate filings. 

Even if you’re registered with the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry, which restricts most telemarketing calls, you can still be spammed by charities, political parties, debt collectors, telephone surveyors and other exempt callers.

The bulk of numbers available to spammers and scammers, however, have been bought from data brokers. In many cases, this data is legally resold to third parties after you sign up for accounts, loyalty programs, contests, sweepstakes and more. You probably agreed to these sales, either as a mandatory condition of using a service or while rushing through web pages with deliberately confusing checkboxes. 

You may also have fallen victim to a phishing scam, handing over your information by filling out a fake login page, making an account on a sketchy website, applying to a fake job listing or signing up for a bogus app or service. If you’ve signed up for anything with your phone number, there’s a strong likelihood your information has been sold.

Your devices do have a level of protection against phishing, from browser warnings about risk sites to Android’s enhanced protection against bank scams. But there are also ways to take precautions with your number. 

Always keep an eye on the sites you use and avoid ones that are stuffed with ads or that you don’t recognize. You can be extra safe by searching for reviews and scam reports about a site before you sign up. In general, though, hide your number on any public profiles and be mindful of how many accounts you create and which boxes you check.

If you’re under attack from robocallers who just won’t stop, signing up for the FTC’s registry is one way to limit your risk. If you want to find out how your number may have gotten out, check whether an associated account was part of a data breach by searching your email address on a site like Have I Been Pwned. You can also google your own phone number in quotes to see if it pops up anywhere.