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Why am I getting random messages?

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Dec 2020
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    76

    Why am I getting random messages?

    I’ve been noticing a high number of random SMS messages and even WhatsApp messages (all in Chinese so I don’t know what the content was) the past few months.

    Is there a way I can find out where my phone number is out there in public? I don’t recall giving it out unnecessarily.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Sep 2018
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ekim201:
    I’ve been noticing a high number of random SMS messages and even WhatsApp messages (all in Chinese so I don’t know what the content was) the past few months.

    Is there a way I can find out where my phone number is out there in public? I don’t recall giving it out unnecessarily.
    It's usually two topics: illegal gambling and, more recently, part time employment. Everyone is getting them and it's a sign that people (especially blue collar workers) are more desperate for work and these scams are more likely to work.
    hike and holasNic like this.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Nov 2017
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    520

    Phones numbers are not that difficult to guess and send random spam.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    May 2011
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    Sai Kung
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    I use smartone. I’m getting heavily spammed on SMS and frequently delete, report as junk. I don’t get this when I delete a normal SMS so they clearly know it’s a dodgy sender. They’ve got a suspected spam setting for incoming calls which provides a good filter

    JAherbert likes this.

  5. #5

    I’m not with Smartone and have just started getting an increased number of these. Very annoying!


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    3,886

    There will not be any providers who are junk free, that’s a given, it may however be interesting to compare frequency and see if any providers do any better, (I doubt it)

    I’m with Three, I’ll make this observation:
    1) ALL SMS I receive are fairly spammy, I usually have 95% of SMS’s unread at any given time.


    They are either bank notifications regarding transactions, or bills notifications from service providers or promotions from the same service providers like Pccw, three themselves, ICable, and Government bullshit too, interspersed with the odd pure Chinese Spam. (Maybe 1 in 10)

    On WhatsApp I get around 3-10 new chats from potential clients per day (I.e unrecognised new numbers) but maybe only 1-2 chinese junk message per week and this for a number I’ve had or over 20 years under both three and Smarttone.

    Ekim201 likes this.

  7. #7

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Apr 2012
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    Hong Kong
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    I got some and decided I will play along. They pretend to offer you some part time work where you have to write movie reviews or some crap like that. They give you a link to a website with an identifier and pretend it is legit etc.... anyway I blocked them at that stage so don't know what is the rest, probably identity theft etc...

    ArrynField likes this.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Posts
    2,160

    Mobile operators provide call filtering services at extra cost.

    Has anyone tried free apps such as JIMA Calller ID on iOS?

    https://www.hkcsl.com/en/call-filtering-service/


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArrynField:
    Mobile operators provide call filtering services at extra cost.

    Has anyone tried free apps such as JIMA Calller ID on iOS?

    https://www.hkcsl.com/en/call-filtering-service/
    I used to use Jima a while back and it was working fine.

    On Android I just block unknown calls, calls listed on spam list, and calls from people not on my contact list. Note that the emergency/hospitals etc should be able to go through, and if you call emergencies the block will be suspended for 24 hours.
    Works fine for me, except when I expect a call from delivery or some recruiters, but recruiters are useless, if they can't Whatsapp or email me then I'm not interested.
    ArrynField likes this.

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