8 replies to this topic

[johnnymanson]

I have been getting text messages from different people on my contacts list that are not coming from their usual number. It has always been a different area code. These contacts have sent text messages to my Google Voice number which gets forwarded to my Verizon Android phone. I can understand Google forwarding a text from another number, but the strange thing is I can call that number and it always rings the contacts phone.

Does Google assign everyone that sends me a text extra phone number? That seems like a huge waste of numbers. How could they do that? It seems to be somewhat persistent. I can reach my sister in South Carolina by calling a in the Sacramento California area code. It worked more than 24 hours later. Has anyone else seen anything like this? Can anyone duplicate this?

Edited by johnnymanson, 16 October 2012 - 10:02 PM.

[dconex]

I have where been using skype and Google voice for years and never new this but will get some friends to try it and see where we go
Tada

DC

[johnnymanson]

I found a thread on this.

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/voice/ae2ExaPUduc%5B1-25%5D

[TheFunk]

I found a thread on this.

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/voice/ae2ExaPUduc%5B1-25%5D

That thread explains it all. It seems like a pretty good idea to me. However, I'd like to know how Google determines that a call is coming from your phone? Imagine calling a 406 number, except spoofing the source of the call. Your phone would connect to Google, Google would check the source of the call, which you might have said to be your friend's phone. Google would then check your friend's 406 contacts (alias numbers) and viola your call would be placed to your friend's contact. You can only imagine some of the other interesting things you could do with this.

[johnnymanson]

Another thing I don't understand is why I can call the number from my cell and it rings my friends phone. When I call it from a landline phone I get a "your call cannot be completed as dialed" message.

[nyphonejacks]

Another thing I don't understand is why I can call the number from my cell and it rings my friends phone. When I call it from a landline phone I get a "your call cannot be completed as dialed" message.

each contact or person you called or received a call from with GV will have a unique telephone number from google assigned to it..

these numbers are shared amongst all of the GV subscribers..

so for example someone texts you google will forward the text from NPA-NXX-XXX1 calls to this number from ANY number that is associated as a forwarding number on your GV account will be sent to that person with your GV number as the caller ID.. sort of like a shortcut instead of having to call into your GV number and press 2 to place a call, or using click to call, or an app...

if someone texted my GV number i could end up with the same NPA-NXX-XXX1 number, but when I called that number from one of the numbers associated with my GV number i would reach someone different than you would..

calling from a number that is not linked with a GV account would result in whatever error recording that GV chooses to put up on the line... but even the CBCAD calls would probably be supervised calls...

[johnnymanson]

Another thing I don't understand is why I can call the number from my cell and it rings my friends phone. When I call it from a landline phone I get a "your call cannot be completed as dialed" message.

each contact or person you called or received a call from with GV will have a unique telephone number from google assigned to it..

these numbers are shared amongst all of the GV subscribers..

so for example someone texts you google will forward the text from NPA-NXX-XXX1 calls to this number from ANY number that is associated as a forwarding number on your GV account will be sent to that person with your GV number as the caller ID.. sort of like a shortcut instead of having to call into your GV number and press 2 to place a call, or using click to call, or an app...

if someone texted my GV number i could end up with the same NPA-NXX-XXX1 number, but when I called that number from one of the numbers associated with my GV number i would reach someone different than you would..

calling from a number that is not linked with a GV account would result in whatever error recording that GV chooses to put up on the line... but even the CBCAD calls would probably be supervised calls...

Makes sense. Hope you are safe from the effects of Sandy.

[TheFunk]

I think I followed that nyphonejacks, but just to be sure, was my hunch from earlier correct? Could you spoof the source of your call or text to one of the 406 numbers, and assuming the number you changed yours to also uses GV, could you in a sense trick GV into thinking that you were the other phone? I'm not interested in trying this, just curious if that would work.

Also, NY looks pretty bad on the news, if you need anything, I'll help any way I can.

[nyphonejacks]

thanks to everyone for their concerns... luckily my neighborhood in brooklyn was not really effected... other than the complete shut down of the subway system for a few days and the lack of gas right now none of my friends, family or myself have been directly impacted by the hurricane..

as for spoofing a different GV number to call one of the pseudo numbers (i guess you would call them) assigned to different contacts on your google voice account.. not sure if that would work or not..

i do have several GV accounts so I guess I could test that out to see how that works.. but i am lazy right now.. maybe tomorrow if i have some free time i can play around with that.. but i am doubtful that it will work, as even when i call into google voice with a blocked number it still knows the number I am calling from, so i believe that they verify the number you are calling from with ANI or something..

if i understand what you want to do.. you would actually have to spoof as one of the forwarding numbers associated with a GV account and not the actual GV number to dial the pseudo number... which may actually make it more difficult to spoof as your target..

not sure what the point of doing this would be other than proof of concept, because you really wouldn't know who you were calling.. just some contact of your target...