Online marketplaces have become a breeding ground for scammers looking to exploit unsuspecting sellers. A verification code sent by a scammer can lead to a loss of a phone number

Every time I try to sell anything on any online marketplace, I get contacted by many buyers who are absolutely happy to buy my items, but first, they need to make sure that I am a real person. They heard that online scams are on the rise and they don’t want to lose money. The best way to do it is to send me a verification code and I would send it back to them to show that I am not a scammer. Ironically, this is how the Google Voice scam starts.

So, what do fraudsters do with these verification codes?

1. Mask their location using the connection to the victim’s phone number

2. Call other people from a legitimate-looking number and scam them, or use it in other criminal activities leaving the original owner responsible

3. Use the victim’s phone number to call friends and relatives pretending to be the victim

4. Get more information about the victim, steal money or personal data, or open new accounts with the victim’s details

5. Get access to all victim’s accounts with two-factor authentication codes

Google Voice has the ability to connect many phone numbers to one. It works great when people want to post something online and don’t want to expose their real phone numbers or need it for work. But in the hands of fraudsters, it creates a loophole that allows them to impersonate victims and be untraceable using a U.S. phone number. The scam became so widespread that the FBI issued a warning advising people never to share any verification codes.

They can make spoof calls or tests pretending to be banks, government employees, or tech support. Spoofing means assuming or stealing an identity and using it to gain trust and defraud people. Google Voice scam allows scammers to call from other countries and show victims a local phone number.

What to do if a number was linked to a scammer?

There is a way to unlink the victim’s phone number even after scammers got access to it. There is a short video with instructions on how to recover the phone number or an instruction from Google. Google might suspend victims’ accounts with suspicious activity without knowing that they are victims so it’s advisable to unlink the phone number as soon as possible.

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• Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp