Spoofed phone number

Tech Support
1

I’m used to getting spoofed numbers on my iPhone so I don’t answer if it’s an unknown caller but now both my phone number and my brother’s were spoofed about an hour after we had a normal phone call. We’re both on iPhones, different carriers, live in different states. He was going to send me a photo about a shoe insole after our call but I never got it. Then he got a facetime from “me” with a short porn video. That was followed by a barrage of calls and and texts from various spoofed numbers from areas near me, some related to shoes. I had gone to bed and when I saw a facetime on my phone from “him” the next morning I just deleted it. I thought it was a mistake since we don’t use facetime. Then I got an email from my niece explaining what had happened to bro. I got another facetime with a video from “him” the next day, didn’t open it, nothing since. So these are my questions:

  1. This wasn’t your typical spoofing. How did someone get both of our phone numbers and know we had just called each other? Some of the texts even used a header related to shoes. He’s on Verizon and I’m on Cricket.

  2. My brother and I talked via his landline since then, but my only phone is my iPhone. Is there a way for either of us to tell when a call shows up with his/my ID if it spoofed or really from the caller?

I did do an FCC complaint but I doubt it will come to anything. Thanks for any insights.

2

I have no helpful suggestions but that is creepy!

3

Seems like I read there were 30 billion “robocalls” last year. I’ve noticed many of the ones that come to me use the same area code and 3 digit prefix as my phone. AFAIK, no one knows how to stop them at this time.

I use the Nomorobo app. $2/month or $20/year. When installed incoming calls are routed to your phone and to their service. Normally if the call is identified as spam, it is routed to your voice mail and the phone doesn’t ring. Some calls can’t be routed and ring through but are identified as a Robocall on your CallerID. The developer won something like $50K from the FTC. I just renewed for my 2nd year. Definitely worth the money to me.

https://www.nomorobo.com