Burner apps

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DLD

Major Contributor
So, let's say I have a secret admirer, who calls me through a burner app. And hangs up. I then write down the number and search for it via Spy Dialer. Spy Dialer is free and quick ... and helpless against the burners.

Which brings me back to the various burner app services. If, let's say, one installed the app in California, would he be limited to certain area codes? I assume that they have choices but I sometimes get area codes from Iowa, North Carolina, etc. Most often I do get the Miami-Dade 305 - albeit from many different neighborhoods - but I have a suspicion that the quantity of the 305's is limited and have to be rotated after use by each app company and thus they resort to whatever available number they have at the moment the phone call is being made.

Anyone knows anything else? Personal experience on either end? Attempts to locate the callers?

Me curious.
 
DLD said:
So, let's say I have a secret admirer, who calls me through a burner app. And hangs up. I then write down the number and search for it via Spy Dialer. Spy Dialer is free and quick ... and helpless against the burners.

Which brings me back to the various burner app services. If, let's say, one installed the app in California, would he be limited to certain area codes? I assume that they have choices but I sometimes get area codes from Iowa, North Carolina, etc. Most often I do get the Miami-Dade 305 - albeit from many different neighborhoods - but I have a suspicion that the quantity of the 305's is limited and have to be rotated after use by each app company and thus they resort to whatever available number they have at the moment the phone call is being made.

Anyone knows anything else? Personal experience on either end? Attempts to locate the callers?

Me curious.
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I hate to break it to you but you're not being singled out. We all receive spam calls almost ever day. With the invention VOIP 3rd world call centers can place millions of international calls a day and disguise their origin. It costs very little and can be automated just like spam email. Because they're from another country there is no legal recourse against them. This is human nature to abuse any low cost form of communication to spam you.
 
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I've used Burner. It works fine. Friends have used Hushed. Could be something else is better, but Burner works for me and is cheap. I use it on journalism stories when I want to provide a phone/text number so certain contacts can reach me, but didn't want to hand out my permanent/main number. Sure, this doesn't totally hide how to reach me, but that isn't the point; I'm transparent with people. But a burner number is an easy way to filter calls. I'd guess robocalling is against the TOS/EULA.

https://www.burnerapp.com
 
Peter C. said:
I hate to break it to you but you're not being singled out. We all receive spam calls almost ever day. With the invention VOIP 3rd world call centers can place millions of international calls a day and disguise their origin. It costs very little and can be automated just like spam email. Because they're from another country there is no legal recourse against them. This is human nature to abuse any low cost form of communication to spam you.
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You missed the point entirely. Spam is something else. Here in Miami, we get a lot of calls from Jamaica. They just want you to call them back, so they get a small percentage of the international connection fees. That's spam. Plus, there are usual "car warranties", "falsified Amazon/PayPal accounts", etc. These are not burner apps. These people want your money. Burner callers don't want your money. What they want is anonymity.
 
Jim Feeley said:
I've used Burner. It works fine. Friends have used Hushed. Could be something else is better ...
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There are apps where you get a new number with each phone call for a flat monthly fee.

Personally, I think it should be illegal.
 
DLD said:
You missed the point entirely. Spam is something else. Here in Miami, we get a lot of calls from Jamaica. They just want you to call them back, so they get a small percentage of the international connection fees. That's spam. Plus, there are usual "car warranties", "falsified Amazon/PayPal accounts", etc. These are not burner apps. These people want your money. Burner callers don't want your money. What they want is anonymity.
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People don't randomly call you if there is no financial incentive unless you've done something to provoke such a call. If you want us to get the point you can tell us what you done to elicit these type of calls.
 
Peter C. said:
People don't randomly call you if there is no financial incentive unless you've done something to provoke such a call. If you want us to get the point you can tell us what you done to elicit these type of calls.
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I mentioned a possible cause in my first sentence.
 
Peter C. said:
I'm sure that must be the reason.
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It could be. I have no proof.

However ... the saga goes on. Starting at 8 AM, I received four different unknown phone calls, the last coming in at 11:30. All of them had the same Miami prefix, which numbers must have been purchased in bulk by the burner service. And it was clearly not a robocall, since the very last try ended after four rings (I have the system set up on six).

And that's how it goes.
 
Peter C. said:
Sounds like she's playing hard to get. Let us know if you ask her out on a date.
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If that's who I think it is, I have. I asked if she wanted to watch the July, 4th fireworks on/off my balcony. But in semi-jest, since I didn't rate my chances.

Then again ...
 
To continue with the original thought, I keep getting hangup calls on a regular basis with all sorts of area codes - South and Central Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, California, etc. And, as usual, options to locate the owner of the line prove fruitless. On the one hand, there are free services like the Spy Dialer and 411; on the other, and there paid services like Been Verified, White Pages, Spokeo, etc..

So, I got a call today at around 10:30 AM but did not pick it up. Then traced the number with a California area code. Then tried the Spy Dialer. Reply - this number doesn't exist. 411 - the same story. Others promised to find the owners info but for a fee. Which I don't intend to pay.

Finally, after Googling for "reverse phone lookup" and scrolling past the ads at the top of the page, I found NumLookup. And that actually gave what they think is the number owner, someone who is allegedly living in the area. And their Facebook page, which is empty, aside of a photo of the neighborhood from a nearby high-rise.

It's something.
 
NorBro said:
I smell ink...paper - and pen - a script.
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The script title is "Idiot" (most wouldn't know it was already used once ... by Dostoevsky ... many years ago)

And here's why. Apparently, while I didn't pick up the phone, the person on the other end didn't actually hang up. She left a message. Asking me if I wanted to go to the beach with her. And I didn't recognize the number because I completely forgot about it. It's indeed from California and the gal is indeed a neighbor. And that was her empty Facebook page (which I have not seen before). So, as a test, it was quite useful. NumLookUp actually worked.

But why did others come up blank? Well, the lady uses SIM cards rather than a monthly payment plan. And, despite being a long term user of that line, the Spy Dialer and 411 still couldn't ID her.

A story line would probably go like this - DLD thinks A is B and that B actually hates him while C likes him. C calls at 4:30, B at 10:30 and A at 7:35. And when he says, "Hi, C" to A, complications ensue and high jinks follow.
 
So, these burner apps apparently buy their numbers from different companies but it looks like that a given app owner buys his from a given numbers wholesaler. So, you can't tell who it is but you might be able to tell who it isn't.
 
So, for a couple of days in a row, I get these burner calls before 9AM. Yesterday, I pick up the phone and say, "This is a tad too early. I am up but not in the no-reply mood". (or something like that ... forget the exact phrasing). Today, no phone call before 9AM.
 
A few years ago I wrote an application that had a dependency on legitimacy of call metadata, the information that is passed along with the call which is much more than just caller ID. That approach had to be abandoned because the call metadata could be spoofed. Never trust your call ID display. Many fraud scenarios can be based on the fake data. No service is going to provide the true origin of the spoofed call. Been there, tried it using experts on the technology.
 
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