Help Please! Overseas Caller Tries to Gain Access My Voice Mail

Superpower21 on 11/04/2022 - 09:15

Morning all. I am with Vodafone prepay plan. Someone with an USA number rang during the early hours and tried to gain access to my voice mail in February. I received a Vodafone text saying "3 incorrect PIN attempts have been made to access your Voicemail. Please call us on 777 if you need help." I rang Vodafone to ensure nothing suspicious was happening with my account and changed my pin.

This morning it happened again, another text from Vodafone saying "Your Voicemail is locked. Please call us on 777 to unlock your Voicemail and activate a new PIN."

I am not sure what's happening and is there anything I can do to stop it? I am very concerned after the hacker's second appempt. Any of you smart people in IT knows what's going on? Thanks in advance.

General Discussion

Comments

  • AleBeerenhoff on 11/04/2022 - 09:22
    +1

    I would be speaking to Vodafone and seeing if there is anything they can do to block the incoming calls. Otherwise asides from changing your phone number itself I dont know if there is much that you can do :\

    • Superpower21 on 11/04/2022 - 21:27

      Last time I called, they said they couldn't do anything at their end.

  • ace310 on 11/04/2022 - 09:40
    +1

    Another most likely scenario which do happen quite often(not to me, but have heard), is someone by mistake is trying to access a number with incorrect country code. Also, if you recently got that number it could be that it used to belong to someone before and they might be trying to access it by mistake(Switching on old device). Do remember, this scenario should be taken care of by Vodafone, as any unused numbers go in cooldown period for specific period before they are made available again.

    • Superpower21 on 11/04/2022 - 21:31

      Thanks. Didn't think of that, both calls were from usa but different numbers.

  • bigcheese on 11/04/2022 - 09:50
    +1

    As ace310 mentioned it could be a mistaken attempt to access voicemail from someone dialling an incorrect number or it could be a hacking attempt.
    I would be making sure your pin is not easily guessable.

    If it continues you could always change network - even temporarily.
    You would still be able to port your number and another network would have a completly different voicemail system which might stop it happeneing. Then you have the option to switch back to Vodafone again if that is your preferred network again at some stage in the future.

    • Superpower21 on 11/04/2022 - 21:41

      Thanks. I have been using this number for more ten years, that's why I feel someone is trying to hack my voice mail.

      We were with Vodafone for broadband and landline last year, someone hacked their system and using our landline to call mobiles for 3 months in a row. I kept calling Vodafone to prove it wasn't us (we were not even home when the calls were made) and credit us back for what we didn't use. Finally found there were people complaining the same thing on their Facebook page.

      If this can't be resolved, I might do what you suggested, switching to another network for a while.

  • akrotohur on 11/04/2022 - 09:51
    +1

    Have not heard of any scamming or hacking of voice mail, I guess it's someone trying to access by mistake. Of course it's still good to be vigilant just in case.

    • Superpower21 on 11/04/2022 - 21:47

      I actually read something about people's voice mail got hacked in USA and the hecker uses the mobile number for something after that, but can't remember what happened. But just can't imagine how hacking a voice mail can do anything. It just not nice knowing someone is trying to access your voice mail.

      • bigcheese on 11/04/2022 - 21:55
        +1

        Here's an article.
        It's a few year's old now but you get the idea.
        Might want to shut that voicemail off after reading it though!

        • Superpower21 on 11/04/2022 - 22:05

          OMG… Definitely shutting down down the voice mail. Thanks!

  • richms on 11/04/2022 - 09:55
    +3

    Just get voicemail removed. Its a dated service that has no use these days. Nothing to try to hack means no more problems.

    • Superpower21 on 11/04/2022 - 21:50

      Thank you! I only have voicemail for business purposes but hardly listen to it as Cheapie doesn't want to spend 20 cents to check it 🤣 I usually just call back.

      • zqsn on 11/04/2022 - 22:31

        I have been able to get Vodafone to include unlimited access to listen to voicemail. Maybe something you could consider to negotiate with Voda.

        • Superpower21 on 12/04/2022 - 16:46

          I didn't know you can negotiate the voice mail fee with Vodafone. Thanks will keep this in mind if I turn my voice mail back on.

  • Dp19842 on 13/04/2022 - 21:02

    Thanx for sharing

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