Cell phone call registry mystery, help?

I determined this to be the best forum, but if it's not please move.

Just a bit ago, I received a call from a "Megan". She claims that she missed a call from me, and that she dialed straight through from her call registry. Her voice had no hint of guile; she had the familiar tone and hesitant cadence that we all might naturally defer to in such a situation.

I apologized for the inconvenience and told her that I did not know her or dial her number. There is zero chance that I pocket-dialed her - my phone had been sitting on the coffee table. After hanging up, I double-checked my register: I indeed had not dialed her number.

I immediately called Verizon to try getting an answer. Two people at Verizon could not provide a satisfactory answer, but all the same I had the unknown caller blocked.

Have you ever had this or a similar issue? I don't know a lot about how these things work, so it's that much more strange to me. Frankly, I find it a bit creepy.

a reply to: MiddleInitial

When I use "OK Google" to dial it sometimes messes up. Adding +1 and country code or something. So it appears as the same number if I'm not paying attention but it's actually not. This happens directly from my directory. I think i might be calling Canada or something. Never cared enough to investigate further. Just dobt use that method to dial now.

a reply to: drewlander

I've never used that feature but I think it's on my phone. Sounds feasible, I suppose. But she claimed she dialed through not from her directory, but her register of received calls. Seems like very little room for error there. Thanks for your kind response.

a reply to: MiddleInitial
It's maybe a ghost, some ghost experiences are surprisingly complex......it maybe displaced in time.....remember the story of the squad of training soldiers near to Stonehenge who received orders......in the mid-1950s....? ......the Sergeant said, "Well, it can't be for us because it was from a ship berthed near Malta, in the Maltese harbour.....I'll report it when we get back." When they reported it, the ship's admiral had been contacted, they found the transmission had been from six months before the squad of soldiers received it in the south of England.
Do you think it could turn out to be something like that?

a reply to: MiddleInitial

Ive never been able to confirm exactly the circumstances when it occurs except that it only happens when using google voice to dial. I just tested saying "Okay Google, Dial my last missed call" on my Galaxy S7 Edge -- it dialed my last missed call from my recent calls. If by chance it had prepended the number with the country prefix as it sometimes will, I would have had the same result as dialing from my contact list. This happened calling my mother like 5 times before I figured out what was going on. I started to freak out cuz she always answers, then I finally tried dialing by touch when I saw the extra numbers and she picked right up.

I had it happen dialing a good friend too, and even sent him a screenshot of what happened. If I can find that screenshot, ill edit out the full number to show you what it looks like.

a reply to: MissPlissit

I don't think the explanation has anything to do with ghosts.

If I take all of this at face value, then my phone number ended up on random device's rec'd call register without my initiation (verified by my call register). Where else could this pattern be repeated? Can someone "highjack" a phone number, making calls from what appears to be my device.

It is very unsettling.

a reply to: drewlander

Neat, thanks for clarifying.

I did a Google Search on the number in question. It is a local (same city) number, same wireless provider as mine, with the same area code and prefix.

I wonder if it's an internal issue with the carrier? If it is, they seemed to be utterly clueless about it when I called - no shock.

Now that I think about it, it seems that some years back, I had this same thing happen, but in reverse. I brushed it off easily enough back then and the world still turns...perhaps it's time to take a cue from my past experience.

a reply to: MiddleInitial
Here is a screenshot. I wasn't paying attention and didn't notice when I voice dialed it added "01 1" before the number, even tho it's not stored that way in my phone.

Edited to add this is also in my same area code. 515

a reply to: MiddleInitial


There are apps for that


Quote from such an app:

Fake Caller ID
Show any number as the Caller ID when placing calls, whether it be their best friends number, significant other, or a random number.

You've got some "funny" friends?

originally posted by: MiddleInitial
a reply to: MissPlissit

Can someone "highjack" a phone number, making calls from what appears to be my device.

It is very unsettling.

Spoofing a phone number is actually incredibly easy. I've gotten many calls and texts from "myself." Same with email. If it's a form of electronic communication it can be spoofed.

a reply to: Dumbass

I don't have friends, really.

I'm surprised that apps like that are legal.

a reply to: Magnivea

Again, unsettling.

Surely it's only superficial and there's SOME way to actually know the origin and destination of electronic messages, right?

a reply to: MiddleInitial

Two endpoints could not be connected without a route between them but I wouldn't count on tracking it back even if you had the means because nothing worthwhile would come of it. I wasn't even going to bring up spoofing because its Illegal, and no one is gonna spoof a returned missed call claiming to be Megan and insisting you called them. The only thing I would be worried about is a missed opportunity. You should have struck up a conversation with the girl and met up for a drink.

;-p

you only need the right motorola mobile phone model, some parts and unix knowledge to build a toolchain that allows you to put custom firmware on the phone that will allow you to spoof phone calls, SMS, even GPRS/3G when you´re lucky.